Hearth's Warming Dance
by MewLover54
Summary: Pinkie managed to arrange a formal dance in the Ponyville Park for Hearth's Warming. However, her idea is dependant on the need for a dance partner, so she goes about telling everypony to try to find a date before hand. Needless to say, this causes a bit of a stir as, with just about three days notice, everyone needs to find said dates as fast as they can. Many pairs, main listed.
1. Finding the Dates!

ML54: Hey guys, sorry about this Christmas Fic being a little late (And a two-shot) but I hope you guys enjoy it! Merry Late Christmas!

 **Finding the Dates**

Pinkie bounced happily down the streets of Ponyville, decked out in her dark pink scarf and wool hat, seemingly unfazed by the snow and ice that was currently being cleared off the roads by shovel wielding ponies, hoping to avoid ponies slipping and sliding all over the place.

Now this seemed like it was nothing special. Pinkie being happy? But she was happy for a reason today...well a different reason than usual.

She continued to bounce down the road, towards the castle, without so much as a care in the world. Having just passed through a snowball fight between the school-ponies, the market vendors trying to pedal their seasonal merchandise and the heavily decorated buildings of the town.

That was until she actually crashed into a prismatic maned pony, strangely bare of any winter gear, walking backwards, motioning to a white Unicorn wearing a dark purple scarf and knee high boots of some kind, who seemed to be carrying a large crate of some kind. "Oof!"

"Hey! What's the big...Oh hi Pinkie," Rainbow quickly cut off, having just noticed the pink pony behind her. However that meant that Rarity had now lost her navigator and she tripped over Pinkie's tail, sending the crate crashing down against the ground.

" _No!"_ Rarity cried out, quickly setting the crate upright, and checking the contents. The other two looked up as Rarity pried the top of the crate open and lifted up some baubles and tinsel, checking it over with a critical eye.

Once Rarity was satisfied she let out a relieved sigh and re-sealed the box, letting it rest for a moment. "Potential disaster averted."

Rainbow rolled her eyes and gave Pinkie a quick look. "Okay Pinks, you gotta look where ya going, you almost got the town's Heart's Warming Tree decorations totalled."

Pinkie sprung back up and gave the two a wild smile. "You'll never guess what guys!" She declared, excitedly, almost as if she didn't even notice the looks she was getting, nor what Rainbow had previously said.

Rarity and Rainbow let out a collected sigh and rolled their eyes at their oblivious friend and just decided to humour her. "No, I don't think we will, care to enlighten us?" Rarity asked.

"Mayor Mare has approved the use of the park for the Heart's Warming dance I've been wanting to do since forever!" She cheered, jumping up and letting multi-coloured confetti out of her mane in celebration. She then paused, looking around herself in contemplation. "I'll need to restock that soon."

"Hey, that's great Pinks!" Rainbow answered, smiling at the ecstatic looking pony.

"Yes, truly. You've been trying for so long, it must be a relief that you finally get to host it," Rarity added, igniting her horn and cringed as the heavy load suddenly bore down on her. "I knew I should have asked Twilight to help."

She suddenly felt the load weigh a lot less and blinked as she noticed a mint green Unicorn smiling, happily. "Don't worry, I'll help ya!" Lyra replied, grinning sheepishly. "I've been looking for something to do all day!"

Rarity sighed with relief and beamed, gratefully. "Thank you ever so much, Dear."

"No problamo, amigo!" Lyra replied, moving to stand next to the box as Rarity moved to the opposite. Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash.

"I shouldn't need anymore manoeuvring Rainbow, so I'll meet you at the tree to put up the decorations," Rainbow grinned and saluted.

"Gotcha Rares, catch ya there in about ten minutes!" The Unicorn nodded before she and Lyra continued on their way. Rainbow then hovered off the ground a little, relieved to get some warmth back into them.

"Jeez, how do you guys manage to stay out in the cold so long?!" She asked Pinkie as she rubbed her hooves together.

"Because we wear our winter gear of course!" Pinkie replied, merrily, patting her scarf. She then continued towards the castle before pausing. "Oh yeah! Rainbow, you're invited to..."

"The Heart's Warming dance? Pinkie, I assumed the whole town would be invited," Rainbow interrupted, raising an eyebrow. Pinkie, in reply, pouted.

"Aww, but I wanted to sing the your invited song!"

"You sing that song, at least, twenty times everytime you have a party. One less ain't gonna kill ya," Rainbow replied, pausing for a moment. "Though I don't think Discord's heard the song before, maybe you could sing it to him?"

"Ooh, maybe I can!" She smiled, before pausing again. "Oh and I'm trying out a formal thing! And, it being a dance, you should probably find a date or something!" She announced, causing Rainbow's eyes to widen a little as her cheeks started to redden. "So try to find a stallion or mare to go with! I don't judge!" She finished, turning back to continue on her way to the castle, leaving a blushing, stammering and embarressed Rainbow behind.

* * *

"Why's it such a big deal?" Applejack asked, nudging Rainbow in the shoulder with a mug of warm, spiced cider. Rainbow took the beverage and drunk from it, deeply.

Rainbow, after finishing decorating the tree with Rarity and Lyra, had made her excuses and rushed off towards Sweet Apple Acres to talk to Applejack and seek advice from her.

"It may not seem like such a big deal to you, since you have coltfriend and all, but how am I supposed to find somepony to go with in...What's the date?"

"Eighteenth of December," Applejack answered.

"Three days!" She cried out, suddenly deciding that deep drinks weren't doing it for her, so just downed the whole thing.

"You act like ponies will care if ya don't go with anypony," Applejack chuckled, causing Rainbow to glare at her. "Why don't ya just go with Fluttershy or Rarity?"

"...Do I have to explain why that's stupid?" She replied, narrowing her eyes. "Or are you itching for an argument tonight?"

"Now, now. Ah didn't mean it like that," Applejack answered, calmly. "Ah meant go as friends. It's a dance, not a kissin' booth."

Rainbow shook her head and sighed in resignation. "I can't do that! It took three months to convince everyone that I wasn't a filly-fooler, I don't need those rumours going around again!"

"Aw shucks, Lyra and Bon-Bon are going together and they..."

"Have been married for two months," Rainbow dead-panned, causing Applejack's eyes to widen considerably.

"Really now?! Shucks, Ah just plain darn didn't notice," The orange pony said, taking a drink of her own cider. "Well, ya want mah advice? Just bite tha bullet and ask out tha first guy ya see that ya like tha look of!"

Rainbow recoiled a bit, not noticing that Applejack decided to refill her drink, before she gave her friend a reluctant look. "Doesn't that seem a little...desperate?"

Applejack shook her head. "Ah don't think so. Ah like ta call it tha direct approach. Worked fer me an' Soarin, didn't it?"

Rainbow lowered her eyelids in a dead-panned look. "Oh yeah. It also worked well for Rumble, huh?" Applejack cringed, rubbing her forehoof with the other, glancing up the stairs of the farmhouse.

"W-well...Uh Applebloom ain't much fer stuff like that. She didn't hurt him too bad!" Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, just a broken leg, nothing too serious," Applejack huffed and poked her in the chest.

"Look if yer scared just cause o' that, remember that they're kids! It's different fer them," Applejack responded before adding. "Plus she didn't do it on purpose. He hugged her and she pushed him off. She don't like being hugged without permission."

Rainbow contemplated this for a second, shaking her cider in a circle, causing the liquid inside to circulate around the mug. "...Alright, fine. The next guy I see, I'll ask out."

Applejack grinned and wrapped a hoof around her friend's shoulders. "That's tha spirit!"

Suddenly, the door in the hall behind them opened, letting in Big Mac, wearing a large, green parka and carrying a large shovel in his teeth, which clattered to the floor as he shook some of the snow off of his mane, tail and flank.

"Howdy Mac! All done with tha paths?" Applejack called out, before Mac made his way into the kitchen with the pair.

"E-eeyup!" He replied, his teeth clattering as he rubbed his hooves together to warm them up. Applejack grinned and poured him the last of the prepared spiced cider, and placed it into his hooves to warm him up.

As Applejack went to fetch him a blanket, knowing that Big Mac and snow don't tend to mix well, Rainbow was looking over the red stallion, scanning him as if evaluating him for some sort of test.

 _Hm...Good looking, check! Nice guy, check! Not much of a talker though...You know, unless he's cross-dressing or something,_ Rainbow grinned and hid her face behind her hoof when he looked over to her to hide the chuckle almost escaping her. _Gotta admit though, it takes guts to try something like that just to try and make his sister happy._

She continued to look him over, however this time Mac did notice and rose an eyebrow at her, quizzically. Rainbow responded by looking into her half-finished beverage and started swirling it again.

 _I don't know...I mean, he's cool I guess, but I kinda need someone to talk to not at,_ She thought to herself before looking up again, noticing him taking a few sniffs of his own drink, before taking a swig. _But AJ did say to ask out the first guy I like the look of...Ah well, you only live once!_

Before Mac could ask what was wrong, after trying to find a way to word it properly, he saw her chug the rest of her drink down, for the liquid confidence, and speak up herself.

"Hey, Mac Attack, you wanna go with me to that Heart's Warming dance? You know, unless you have plans," Rainbow asked, noticing Applejack had returned to the room. Who had dropped the blanket in shock.

Mac blinked, before placing a hoof to his chin in contemplation. _Did Miss Dash just ask me out?_ He thought to himself, looking over her, noticing the way her body seemed to twitch in some places, her nerves obviously getting the better of her. _Ah guess so. Well, she is AJ's friend...Ah mean, she was a little insultin' at the Sisterhooves Social but we didn't talk all that much before. Oh, guess Ah should answer!_

"Eeyup," Mac replied, causing Rainbow to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Eeyup you got plans or eeyup you'll go with me?"

Mac rubbed a forehoof with the other before tapping the table-counter twice, to indicate the second one. Rainbow let out a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding and grinned at him.

"Cool! I'll meet ya there at seven, okay?" Mac nodded, meekly, causing Rainbow to smile more. "Awesome, thanks Mac I'm sure we'll have a blast!"

She got up and made her way to the door, punching Applejack, lightly, in the shoulder on the way. "Thanks for the advice AJ, I owe ya one!"

As she made her way outside, Mac turned to his sister, raising an eyebrow. Applejack sighed, slapping her hoof against her face. "Shoulda seen that one comin'..."

* * *

The next day, Pinkie had approached Fluttershy's place to invite her to the Heart's Warming dance and to tell her about the date idea. Needless to say, Fluttershy was hesitant.

"Oh Pinkie, I'm not sure," Fluttershy said, pouring out a few birdseeds for the hummingbirds, which they started to devour happily. Pinkie's mane deflated in response.

"Aw, why not?" She asked, as if she didn't already know.

"Well...I just don't want to bother anypony for a date," The butter yellow Pegasus answered, moving on to throwing seeds to the chickens. "Plus it's such short notice, I don't know how many of us will be able to get one."

Pinkie hummed a bit, before smiling brightly. "Well AJ's probably going to go with Soarin, since he's her coltfriend and all, and I got Cheese to come with me! I think Rainbow got a date as well! So that's three of us!" She cheered, causing Fluttershy to sigh.

"Oh um...I'm sure you'll have fun. But, I just..."

Pinkie wrapped her hoof around Fluttershy's withers and rushed her into her home. "Oh I got an idea! Discord!"

After she called him, the mismatched Dracoeques popped into existence in front of them, with a towel wrapped around his head and barrel. "Do you mind, Miss Pie, some of us are trying to shower!"

Fluttershy tilted her head, confused. "I have a bath, not a shower."

"Oh!" Discord replied, looking up the stairs. "You have a shower now."

"How many times do I have to tell you not to mess around with the plumbing?!" Discord grinned, sheepishly.

"Technically, you said not to make the 's' bend a 'o' bend, nothing to do with all of the plumbing," Fluttershy lowered her eyelids in a deadpan expression causing Discord to sigh and face the corner of the room.

"Yeah, I hate the naughty corner," Pinkie mentioned, before she shook her head and asked: "Discord, do you have a date yet?" Discord shook his head, knowing he wasn't allowed to speak for five minutes while in the naughty corner. "That's great! You can go with Fluttershy!"

Both their eyes bugged out, though only Discord's actually escaped his head so he could grab onto them, rub them onto the towel on his barrel, and pop them back in. Pinkie saw their expressions and quickly raised her hoof to stop their questioning. "Now, now. You don't have to go as a date, you can easily just go as friends!"

Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief, while Discord just chuckled merrily. "Oh I'm sure that'll be fun! Right Fluttershy?"

"Oh, um...yes...So long as you promise to be on your best behaviour!" She responded. Discord clicked is talon, causing his towels to turn into a scouts uniform with a sash full of badges, with him holding his lion paw to his chest, saluting with the other.

"Scouts honour!" He grinned, a lightbulb suddenly popping up over his head. "I must go get a suit from our favourite, fractious fashion friend!" He then popped out of existence, leaving a small cotton candy cloud, raining chocolate milk over a certain white bunny, much to his irritation.

Fluttershy looked over at Pinkie and let out a sigh. "I'll keep an eye on him, don't worry."

"Okie doki loki!" She replied, quickly pushing the rabbit out of the way to stand under the rain with her mouth wide open, facing the sky to drink it.

* * *

Rarity groaned as she listened to Sweetie Belle go on and on about how much fun she and Button Mash were going to have at the Heart's Warming dance, working on the fourteenth dress this morning. This one was for Sassaflash who, as well as every other mare that had come to her, had only just heard about the dance this morning/last afternoon and needed a dress.

Of course, she was happy to oblige, and she could definitely use the extra bits before Hearts Warming. After all, she was hoping to get her parents those cruise tickets that they had been wanting. Plus Sweetie Belle did mention something about wanting an Xbone or something like that. She didn't know much about gaming, but she knew it cost a lot.

But that didn't mean she was a miracle worker! After this one was done, she had to work on one for Mayor Mare, Carrot Top and all her friends! Plus all the others!

So with how distracting this was, she didn't think she'd get the chance to find a date for herself. That, in itself, was a nightmare!

"Hiya Rarity!" The white Unicorn jumped, causing the needle to fly out of her grip and get stuck in Discord's chest. He looked down at the offending object before picking it out, causing chocolate milk to shoot out of the wound. Sweetie Belle giggled a little at her sister's look.

" _Discord!"_ Rarity cried out, quickly getting a bowel and sliding it under the chocolate milk flow. "Please stop bleeding chocolate milk on my floor!"

"Well there's something you don't hear everyday!" Sweetie Belle said as Discord placed a plaster with a bunch of yellow smiley faces over it, causing the milk flow to stop.

"And a big warm, how do ya do, to you too!" Discord replied, looking annoyed. "I didn't know greetings now consisted of stabbing each other, however awesome that sounds."

Rarity sighed and gritted her teeth. "Hello Discord," She reluctantly greeted, motioning to the mess. "Could you be a dear and help me with the mess?"

Discord clicked his talon and all the chocolate milk had soon vanished from the room. Rarity and Sweetie Belle blinked in confusion. "You're usually not so co-operative. Are you sick or something?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Discord laughed and waved his talon. "No, no. I need a favour and I'll surely be more likely to get it if I'm not being...well me."

Rarity let out a sigh before making the finish on her latest dress, flinching at the lack of detail or pizazz. Though, she did mention that possibility to everyone who ordered a dress, it's still quite frustrating since it doesn't feel like something from her at all.

"I'm a little busy right now, Discord, I have so many dresses to make."

"That's what I need help with!" Discord exclaimed, happily, causing Sweetie Belle to raise an eyebrow at him.

"You want a dress?"

"Yes...I mean no! I mean, maybe some other...No a suit! I need a suit!" He glared over at the giggling little Unicorn and muttered under his breath. "Well played, little one, well played."

"Not another one!" Rarity cried out, falling flat on her face. "I don't think I can do this! I have two days to make thirty seven dresses by myself!"

"I offered to help!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, huffing and crossing her hooves. Rarity sighed.

"I know you did, but you also need to rehearse the song you're going to sing at the dance and for your date as well! I don't need to take up your time with this," Sweetie Belle sighed, looking over at the song sheet on the table.

"I guess..."

"Why don't you go see your friends for now. I'm sure I'll be fine on my own," Rarity said, rubbing Sweetie Belle's shoulder. The filly nodded and picked up her song sheet with her magic.

"Okay. Don't forget to find a date!" Sweetie Belle called out as she left.

"You don't have a date yet?" Discord asked, strangely serious and concerned. Rarity sighed and nodded.

"No, but don't worry about it. I'm sure I can allure someone on the day. So who are you going with?"

"Fluttershy. We're going as friends," Discord clarified, smiling fondly. Rarity matched his look.

"That's sweet. I'm sure Fluttershy appreciates it. The poor dear is just so..."

"Socially awkward?" Discord offered.

"...I was going to say shy." Rarity finished, causing Discord to shrug.

"You say potato, I say guacamole," He grinned, before snapping his talon and poofing right in front of her, causing her to jump back. "So you need a date."

Rarity sighed and nodded. "I suppose, but I'm just so busy that I don't think I'd..."

"Who's this?" Discord asked, pointing to a picture in a book that looked like...

" _What are you doing with my diary?!"_ Rarity screeched, snatching the book out of his talon, blushing in embarrassment.

"What? Sweetie Belle can print your darkest secrets in the newspaper, but I'm not allowed to read a single page?" Discord asked, tutting. "That's just not fair."

"Sweetie Belle took it without permission and was punished for it. Now please, would you leave me alone to finish these dresses in peace," Rarity stressed, pointing towards the door.

"But I had an idea!" Discord whined, clicking his fingers, now having measuring tapes and designing papers, pencils and the likes, needle and thread floating around him. "I was going to offer to finish a few of these dresses as payment for my suit and, while I'm doing that, you can go find that Pegasus coltfriend of yours and get that date!"

Rarity was about to tell him to get out again before blinking. "Y-you know how to make dresses?"

"So long as I have the designs, which you seem to have sorted out," He answered, the dress for Twilight floating in front of him before he clicked his talon and the materials seemed to twist, curl and meld together before her very eyes. "During my...ahem, Dictator days I had to find something to occupy my time and this was actually a lot more fun then I thought it would be."

"Oh...um...I guess..." Rarity stumbled, not sure what to do. This was the only opportunity she'll have to go find Thunderlane, the stallion she'd been harbouring a crush on for a while now, but she wasn't quite sure whether she could trust Discord or not.

Though he had soon finished Twilight's dress, which was a lovely, thick, dark blue garment that shined from the amethysts glittering from the corset. As far as she could tell, he had done quite a good job with it!

"I guess...I could agree with that...I'll be back in a few hours. Don't burn the place down, flood it, hurt Opal or mess with my stuff," Rarity warned, before leaving.

Discord shrugged and turned to look at the dresses that Rarity wanted to do more with before he felt a pair of hooves wrap around his chest. "Thank you Discord," Rarity whispered before rushing off again.

He smiled at the appreciation and got to work clicking his talon and getting the dresses sorted. "You're welcome," He muttered when he was sure no-one could hear, letting out a sigh.

* * *

" _You don't have a date?!"_ Sweetie Belle exclaimed, loudly enough to shake the tree house to it's core and for her friends to cover their ears.

"No," Applebloom answered as she poked the tip of her hoof into her ear and twisted it, as if trying to clear it out.

"Why not?"

"Why do ya think?" Applebloom answered, rolling her eyes. "I don't want one. I'm too young to be worrying about that right now."

"B-but...It's a dance, you can't go on your own!" Applebloom sighed, looking over at Scootaloo.

"Ah'll just go with Scoots, Sweetie Belle, it ain't a big deal!" She responded, as if it were obvious. She left a pause, waiting for Sweetie Belle to start arguing again. However, this time, Sweetie Belle didn't say anything.

"Um...Actually, AB, I kinda already have a date," Scootaloo mentioned, rubbing her hoof in embarrassment. Applebloom's eyes suddenly bugged out as she turned to her friend in stunned surprise.

" _What?!"_ She exclaimed, grabbing the orange pony by her shoulders. "Since when do you care about the mushy, gushy romance stuff!"

Scootaloo, quite forcibly, pushed her friend back and gave her a disgusted look. "It isn't like that at all! It's more of an agreement! At the first School Dance thing that Cheerilee put on, Featherweight and I made a deal that we'll just go to all of them together so that we're never the odd ones out."

Her two friends looked at her, noticing a light red in her usual orange cheeks and her wings were fluttering a little. Before they could ask about it, she shook her head and put a hoof on Applebloom's shoulder. "Which means I can't go with you. Rainbow Dash is my big sister, after all, and what kind of little sister of the Element of Loyalty am I, if I can't be loyal to him like he is to me?!"

Sweetie Belle smirked, mischievously. "Yeah, she has to stay loyal to her coltfriend after all," She all but sung, causing Scootaloo to growl at her, still holding the red tint to her cheeks.

"It's not like that at all! He's not my coltfriend! He's just a colt that happens to be my friend!" She argued, causing Sweetie Belle to giggle.

"Then why are you blushing?" Scootaloo froze, only now just noticing how warm her face felt.

 _Okay Scootaloo. You need a really good come back to that! The best one you can think of!_ "Shut up!" She declared, turning away with a small smile. _Genius, Scootaloo, genius._

Before their argument could continue, it seemed as if something in Applebloom had just set off the big, red 'PANIC' alarm and she suddenly started to hyperventilate. The other two turned to her and immediately got to rubbing her back and trying to calm her down.

" _WhatdoIdoWhatdoIdoWhatdoIdo?!"_ She cried out, far to fast for any normal pony to make out.

"This is solved quite easily. Go with Rumble, he likes you!" Sweetie Belle offered, causing Scootaloo to shake her head.

"He's kind of afraid of her after she broke his leg."

"Oh c'mon, that was an accident. I'm sure he would've forgiven her by now."

"Have you ever had your leg broken, Sweetie Belle? It's not something you just get over."

"Alright fine! What about another friend of ours? Diamond Tiara?"

"Going with First Base."

"Silver Spoon?"

"Snails."

"Twist?"

"Snips."

"Pipsqueak?"

"Dinky."

"Ruby Pinch?"

"Truffle Shuffle."

"...I'm out of ponies..." Sweetie Belle sighed, looking over apologetically at Applebloom. "Maybe Big Mac will go with you? You know, like he did with..."

"The Daddy-Daughter Dance?" Scootaloo asked, raising her eye at her. "That's a little embarrassing, don't ya think?"

"I don't think Mac has much shame, you know since he cross-dressed and all."

"Yer never gonna let him live that down, are ya?" Applebloom asked, glaring at the white Unicorn who flinched under the death gaze. "Besides, he's got a date with Rainbow Dash. Who did ya think mah plan B was?"

"...You don't, by any chance happen to have a plan..."

"Ah had several plans in place. A was Scootaloo, B was Mac, C was Diamond Tiara and the next four were the four who are apparently taken!" Scootaloo interrupted Applebloom, pointing at her as she finally noticed something important.

"Rainbow's going with Mac?! How'd that end up happening?!" Applebloom sighed, annoyed.

"Ah don't know, ask her! Meanwhile, if ya can focus on mah crisis!"

"Rumble still hasn't got anypony to go with so you can still..." Sweetie was soon interupted.

"Ah can't because he's already going with Babs!" Applebloom screamed, covering her head with her hooves. "She was visiting when Ah went ta tha hospital ta apologise properly an' they kinda hit it off really well! She's comin' ta visit fer tha weekend tomorrow an' tha two made a date of it!"

"...Oh," The two let out, turning to each other and quickly turned away from Applebloom and started to try and come up with a plan.

After a while of thinking and muttering between themselves, they nodded, turned to the yellow filly and Scootaloo informed her of the conclusion they came to.

"Yeah, you're screwed."

The bow adorned pony screamed in frustration and glared at the two. "Well ain't you two just a big old barrel o' useful!" She then went into the corner. "Now excuse me, Ah'm gunna go sulk in tha corner."

The other two shared another look and decided to let her sort this out on her own, leaving the clubhouse and Applebloom alone.

* * *

Rarity sighed in relaxation as she smelled the fresh cup of coffee laid out in front of her. "Thank you," She said to Clover, the waiter, before taking a sip. Clover nodded and went to collect orders from another table.

She knew she should be trying to find Thunderlane, but she reasoned that since he was probably on weather-patrol and in the sky, she'd never find him. So she decided to just wait until he was on his lunch break and then go look for him.

Just as she was taking another sip, she noticed a presence beside her. She looked down and noticed a pair of green eyes looking up at her. "Hi Rarity!" Spike said, cheerfully.

Rarity smiled back, cheerfully, at her little, part-time assistant and best friend. "Hi Spikey, how are you doing today?" She asked, motioning to the seat across from her.

"I'm doing okay. Actually, it's great I caught you cause I needed to ask you something," Spike said, causing Rarity's eyes to widen in panic.

 _Uh oh! Please tell me this isn't about what I think this is going to be about!_ She begged to herself, reluctantly nodding. She knew of his crush on her, mainly because the little dragon was quite obvious about it. He pretty much wore his heart on his sleeve, but now that this dance has come up, it's probably given him the confidence to finally confront her about these feelings.

The problem with this, however, is that she's going to have to let him down. Not just because of her interest in Thunderlane, but mainly because he's just too young for her. If he were older she'd happily date him, but it just wasn't to be. Of course, being a child, he probably doesn't understand that.

 _I just hope he doesn't take this too hard,_ She thought to herself as Spike worked up the nerve to ask.

"D-do...Do you know anypony who hasn't got a date to the dance yet?"

"I'm sorry Dear, I can't..." Was as far as she got into her preprepared speech before his words caught up to her. "Wait, what?"

Spike blushed a little harder, embarrassed to have to ask again. "I was just wondering if you knew anyone I could ask out to the dance. You know? Without having to explain to their coltfriend that I'm not trying to steal anyone."

Rarity blinked, clearly a little puzzled by this turn of events but, overall, actually kind of happy. "Um...I'm sorry, Dear, did you want something to drink?" She offered, before Spike sighed.

"Look, if you don't know, you don't have to keep dodging the question..."

"No, no! Nothing like that! I'm just...gathering my thoughts. I thought for sure that..."

"I was going to ask you out?" Spike asked, Rarity nodding in reply. The dragon let out a disappointed sounding sigh. "Well I was going to, but when I reached the boutique and you weren't there, I got caught talking to Discord. When I told him why I was there, he told me you had, and I quote 'Gone to ask out the stallion of her dreams...or diary.'"

Rarity held her breath as Spike rubbed an arm over his eyes when he felt something sting them for a second. "And...W-well since you had a date planned, I went to Twilight to see if she'd go as a friend, but she got a letter saying that Cadence managed to twist Shining's hoof enough to get him to send Flash down for the week. So I've been trying to find a date since," He finished, now noticing a cup of hot chocolate in front of him.

Clover quickly left again and Spike, feeling his throat swell a little, took a sip of the hot liquid. "And that's what brought me here. Is Sweetie Belle free or something?"

"Sorry Dear, she has a coltfriend," Spike sighed at that answer. "Though I'm not sure about Scootaloo or Applebloom. Perhaps one of them would be happy to go with you?"

"...Didn't Applebloom break Rumble's leg?" Spike asked, concerned. Rarity sighed.

"That was an accident, Dear, I'm sure she won't kill you for asking a question," She explained, looking at the time and noticing there was still, at least, an hour before Thunderlane was supposed to be getting off his shift.

"I guess..." Spike said, before turning to jump down from his chair. "Well I best be off, good luck with Thunderlane."

"Wait!" Spike paused and turned to Rarity with a raised eyebrow. "It's been a while since we last saw each other and Thunderlane won't be around for a while. Want to talk for a bit?" She asked, smiling pleasantly.

In his head, Spike knew this might be a bad idea. He's trying to get over his crush on the Unicorn opposite him and spending time with her, without anyone else around to boot, isn't going to help with that. And he certainly didn't want his waterworks to start up again. Plus he had to get that date.

...But he just couldn't say no to her. It was a weird thing for him where he was quite incapable of refusing to do anything for anyone...You know, unless they were a jerk.

So Spike took a deep breath and put on his best smile. "Sure, I can spare a few minutes."

* * *

"Howdy Soarin!" Applejack called up to him as he flew through the air towards the orchard.

Once the Pegasus noticed her, he smiled widely and waved to her. "Hey AJ! What's up?!" He called back, unaware that he had just flown right past her.

"Uh...Soarin?! Ya might want ta look out fer that...!" Was as far as she got before he slammed, face-first, into one of the trees next to the farmhouse, then fell right into one of the buckets that Big Mac had set up just before said stallion had smacked the bark of the tree and the snow rained down into the buckets and on top of the Wonderbolt's head.

Applejack had run up to him, concerned for his health. "You okay there, Sugarcube?" She asked, pulling him out of the bucket and out of the snow that now filled it about half way. Big Mac had turned around to look over his work, then rose his eyebrow at all the snow lying around everywhere and his sister and her coltfriend now standing in front of him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He grinned, before cringing and holding a hoof to his head. "Just a little bump, no biggie."

Applejack sighed in relief, then rolled her eyes. "Ya need ta stop starin' some place else when yer flyin'. This is tha third time this has happened!"

"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed, pushin between the two to scoop up the snow and to put it back into the bucket.

Soarin shook his head and gave her a devilish grin. "I'd happily risk a concussion if it meant I got to stare at you for a couple more seconds," Applejack mimicked his look and stepped closer to him.

"Are ya tryin' ta seduce me, Mr. Wonderbolt?" She asked in the most suggestive voice she could muster. Soarin winked at her in reply, causing Mac to look up from his task, horrified.

"Gotta start some place, like maybe your room?" He answered, causing Mac to run off.

" _Eenope!"_ The two, startled, turned to see the red stallion run away as if he were getting chased by wendigos, and suddenly became a lot more self-conscious of their surroundings, chuckling lightly.

"Forgot your brother was there," Soarin said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. Applejack shook her head, trying her best to fight off her blush.

"It's fine, sometimes Ah forget he's here too. He's just so darn quiet," She replied, wondering if she may have just ruined his picture of her as his 'innocent little sister'. _Well, he's still got Applebloom at least._

Soarin let out a slightly louder laugh, then immediately regretted it as his head throbbed. "Ah, I think have a headache," Applejack rolled her eyes at him and nudged him towards the farmhouse.

"Only mares get ta use that excuse, Soarin, besides you've been gone fer six months so yer gonna get an aspirin an' then yer gonna show me how much ya missed me," She grinned at him, smacking his flank with her tail.

Soarin smiled back, nuzzling her cheek. "So long as you show me how much _you_ missed _me,_ " He answered, let a low breath into her ear.

Applejack wobbled a bit, and nuzzled back. "Ah can agree ta that."

* * *

Big Mac stopped running when he realised he had made it to the middle of town. While he was here, he decided to see if Caramel would have any room at his place tonight, considering that when his sister and Soarin go at it, they _really_ go at it.

He shuddered a little and shook his head of the thought, getting a couple of looks from the towns ponies but, other than that, they just let him continue on with his day.

He eventually found the stallion, helping out Pinkie with setting up a stage in the middle of the park. Several other ponies were there as well, but Mac just needed to see his best friend.

Caramel had just finished screwing in another bolt under the stage when he noticed Mac from his position and waved, happily. "Hey Mac Attack!"

Mac sighed from his nose, tilting his head with a deadpan expression. "Aw I know you already have a nickname, but I like this one more," The light brown stallion grinned, tapping him in the shoulder. Mac, in response, made a sweeping motion with his hoof, then pointed to his place, then pointed at him and finally tilted his head.

"Ah, so Soarin's back in town, huh? We'll have to get a drink with him some point. It's been a while," Caramel mentioned, before looking apologetically at him. "And sorry bud, but Time Turner's staying with me until he can fix his house. Something about his indoor fireworks going off prematurely," Mac tilted his head to the side. "I'm sure it's not a euphemism, Mac, how would that damage his house, anyway?"

Mac sighed and nodded, turning away. "Sorry bud, have you thought about investing in some ear-plugs?" Mac rolled his eyes and pointed to his ear, then put his hooves together before spreading them wide apart. "Right, too loud for ear-plugs. Gotcha."

As soon as Mac left, the support beam from Caramel's side of the stage suddenly snapped and part of it collapsed. "Damn it!"

* * *

Thunderlane hummed, happily, making his way towards his favourite restaurant, Lucky and Clover's. He had just beaten his personal record for cloud altering. seventy-two rain clouds turned to snow clouds in two hours is pretty good, if he does say so himself. Rainbow's record for that was only about fifty-nine.

Yeah, she may be the fastest flyer out of them all, but when it came to converting one type of cloud to another, there was no-one quite like him! Didn't hurt that he was also quite fast, but he preferred to focus on what he was best at.

Just as he was entering the establishment, he noticed that there were quite a few other ponies around today. _Huh, strange, it's not usually so full up._

Across the outdoor sitting area, Rarity let out an infatuated sigh as she spotted the dark grey Pegasus enter the establishment. _There he is! Alright, Rarity, remain calm and invite him over..._

"Hey Rarity, mind if I sit here? There aren't any other seats left," So into her thoughts, was she, that she hadn't even noticed the object of her affections had spotted her and was now right there in front of her.

 _He's here! Quick! Say something flirty!_ "Aieeehuh!" With his sudden introduction into the picture and her thoughts poking her to answer, she hadn't the time to come up with a response and just settled for making a noise.

Thunderlane, understandably, recoiled in shock and raised one of his hooves up, as if in surrender. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," He said, peeking out and noticed her face light up.

 _I said flirty, not frightening!_ "Uh, I mean of course you can!" She quickly corrected, giggling nervously and motioning to the seat Spike was in before.

Thunderlane nodded and sat down, noticing an empty cup in front of him. "Uh...You sure? It looks like someone was here before?"

Rarity looked at the offending cup, left by Spike, and shook her head. "Oh no, he left earlier to find a date," She answered, hearing her stomach growl. _Perfect! We can eat lunch together and I'll work my way towards asking him!_

Thunderlane nodded, smiling a little before raising his hoof to flag down a waiter. Clover noticed and, with several orders already written down, approached their table. "Ah good to see you, Thunderlane! How're you today?"

"Good, Clover, I see business has picked up," Thunderlane answered, looking at all the full tables. As he mentioned this, Rarity blinked and noticed, for the first time, that almost every seat in the establishment had been filled up. "Must be the ponies who were helping in the park earlier."

As the two continued their small talk, Rarity was having a little bit of a panic attack. _No! The reason I was waiting for him here was because it wasn't very busy! I can't ask him out in front of everyone! Ladies don't seek the courtship, that's supposed to be the stallion's job! How would I look to everyone here?!_

"Um...Rarity?" She shook out of her thoughts and looked up at Clover. "Are you going to order some food now? You have been here for three hours."

Rarity's face flushed even brighter in embarrassment when he said that and Thunderlane raised his eyebrow at her. _Well thank you, Clover, that's not going to seem suspicious at all, is it?!_ "Just a garden salad please," Rarity sighed, her eyes drooping to the ground to avoid as much eye contact from anyone as possible, her ears following in their example.

"Very well, and another coffee?" Clover asked, already knowing the tally in his head and the pile of cups in the kitchen.

Rarity felt her heart beating erratically, whether it was from embarrassment, Thunderlane being here or the amount of coffee she drank, she didn't know. But she did know that she didn't want to risk it bursting. "No, just water this time please."

Clover nodded and quickly made his way into the building to give his brother everyone's orders and to let him know that he won the bet.

Thunderlane studied Rarity's demeanour and face for a while, before chuckling good-heartedly. "Ah cheer up, Rares, I love the coffee here too. And this place does have some comfy chairs," He emphasised by bouncing slightly on the cushion on the chair he was sat on.

Rarity nodded, her face contorted between relief and frustration. "Yes, it is a lovely place," She replied, half-heartedly.

"...Are you okay? You sound kind of upset," The Pegasus asked, concerned. Rarity sighed and nodded.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. How's Rumble doing, these days?" Rarity asked, trying to steer the conversation away from her before she just breaks down and runs away. It's pretty ironic, the one who knows the most about romance out of her friends, was the most inept at it! It'd be like Fluttershy not knowing how to feed badgers or Applejack not being able to tell which apple is which!

Thunderlane plastered a proud smile on his face at the mention of his brother. "He's great, actually, he's got a date to the Heart's Warming dance with this filly from Manehatten! I think her name was Babs?"

"Ah yes, Babs Seed. She's Applebloom's cousin," Rarity explained, sort of surprised. Considering what Applebloom did, she was afraid poor little Rumble may have been too scared to talk to another filly ever again.

"Yeah, the little guy sure is growing up..." He mentioned, before pausing and rubbing his chin in thought. "Hm...I feel like I might have forgotten something..."

Before Rarity could ask what that 'something' might be, his eyes widened in horror and his wings shot out in panic. _"Ah I forgot to go find a date!"_ He cried out in horror, about to take to the skies, before he felt glued to the spot.

Rarity sighed in relief, glad to know that her new grabbing spell worked, and smiled at him. "You can, at the very least, wait and eat your food before you run around town like a crazy pony, no?"

Thunderlane flinched and grinned, sheepishly, adjusting to his seat to find a more comfortable position. "Sorry about that, I'm just..."

"Forgetful, I've noticed," She replied, giggling. "Don't worry, I tend to forget important things when I focus on work too, it's no big deal. Anypony'd love to go with you."

"...Really?" Thunderlane asked, folding his very large wings to his side, blushing a little at the compliment.

"Really," She answered, noticing Clover come out with their orders. _Please notice I don't have a date, please notice I don't have a date!_

Thunderlane smiled, shyly, and rubbed his forehoof with the other. "Thanks..."

After a little bit, Rarity sighed and took a bite out of her food. "You're really pretty!" And suddenly the food went down the wrong pipe and she coughed, violently, to stop herself from choking to death.

Thunderlane panicked and went around to give her some firm, pats on her back to help her lungs expel enough air for the food to finally come out, Thunderlane catching it in his wing to avoid it ruining the rest of her food.

He quickly threw the mess away and sat back in his seat, looking mortified. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn't, I mean I did...But well, I uh..." Thunderlane stuttered, noticing Rarity looking at him while panting for breath. "I'll just shut up."

"No...Go on...Dear...What were...you going...to say?" She asked between deep breaths, trying to soothe her aching chest and to calm her, now even more, erratic heart rate.

Thunderlane blushed, brightly, rubbing the back of his head. "I just...well. You're really pretty. I uh...and well...uh..." He groaned and buried his face into his hooves. "Why am I so bad at this?!"

Rarity noticed his demeanour and placed a hoof on his shoulder, now noticing they had a fairly large audience. Though, strangely, she didn't mind that they were watching. Her attention was solidly on the pony in front of her. "You can't be any worse at it than I am?"

He looked up in surprise, before his challenging eyes showed up. "Really? Cause I once gave a girl roses, only to forget they had thorns when she grabbed them with her mouth, that's pretty bad."

"I once tried to dress up as some kind of hill-billy and rolled around in mud to impress a stallion I knew for a day," Rarity boasted, not sure why she was sharing this story. It's not like it's an anecdote she often tells other ponies, but it felt pleasant seeing Thunderlane smile and let out a chuckle.

"Ever snuggled with a pony on, what you thought was an altus cloud, but turned out to be a thunder cloud?" He challenged, raising an eyebrow and a smirk. "Most mares don't like walking around with their mane standing on end."

Rarity giggled at that one, trying to imagine somepony like Fluttershy with a more exaggerated version of Pinkie's mane. "Ever had one too many glasses of wine and ended up going home with somepony's coat instead of your date?"

"Can't say I've had that experience, though I doubt you accidently asked out a mare that looks like a stallion? Cause I've asked out a stallion that looks like a mare," He replied, causing Rarity to grin back.

"You have met your Weather Captain, right?" She replied, giggling at his surprised look. "What can I say, short mane, scratchy voice and competitive attitude, I thought Rainbow Dash was more of a Rainbow Blitz at first."

Thunderlane and Rarity locked eyes for a few seconds before they both burst out laughing, more at themselves then each other. "Jeez, we're both kinda hopeless, huh?"

"Perhaps," Rarity smiled, reaching out and holding his hoof in hers. "But maybe we can be hopeless, together?" She asked, fluttering her eyelashes at him, causing him to grip her hoof back, food completely forgotten at this point.

"I'd like that."

* * *

"Hey Mac Attack!" Mac blinked and looked up, noticing his date for the dance looking down at him from her napping cloud, grinning. "Didn't expect to see you out today, you look cold."

He grimaced as he trying his hardest to stop shaking in his skin, cursing himself for forgetting his parka this morning. "E-eeyup!"

Rainbow noticed his demeanour and let a sympathetic smile cover her face. "Guessing AJ and Soarin are at it again?"

Mac sighed. "Eeyup..."

"Well, you can stay with me for the night if that's what ya need," He looked up at her, motioning to the sky and then to his back, causing her to roll her eyes. "I know you're an Earth Pony, stupid, I invested in a solid winter house under my cloud house since it gets really cold in the clouds."

Mac blinked and Rainbow grinned. "It's also for Scoots to sleep round when her parents are out of town or if she wants a sleepover," She explained, standing up and made her way down. That's when Mac noticed that she was wearing a thick, orange sweater with her cutie mark in the middle.

She noticed his look and blushed a bit, glaring at him. "Scootaloo got it for me and I was super cold! You make fun of it, you'll be pulling bits of your teeth out of your ass!" Mac nodded, calmly. Even if he did find her sweater worth making fun of, he'd never dare voice his opinion.

She nodded, mood brighting up as fast as it darkened, and waved her hoof over to the edge of town. "Great, my place is this way!"

* * *

Scootaloo had decided she may as well visit Featherweight since she didn't feel like sitting next to Sweetie Belle and Button Mash making googly eyes at each other/murdering pixelated mobs on MineCraft.

Knowing how lax his dad usually is, she just walked in the door and saw the little colt himself, cleaning his camera lens on the sofa. He didn't even look up as he greeted her. "Hey Scoots, there's a candy cane on your left."

 _He knows me so well,_ She thought to herself, smiling, as she grabbed the treat and took a big bite out of it, plopping herself down next to him and clicking the TV remote to see what was on.

"I still don't know how you can just bite those things, it's a nightmare on my teeth," He mentioned, putting the lens cap back on and setting it down. She just tapped him on the shoulder.

"Lots of practise, dude, lots of practise," She answered, offering him a bite. He shook his head, causing her to shrug and take another bite. "So what's the game plan? I spot and you snap?"

Featherweight rose his eyebrow at her. "If by that you mean you point out some highlight moments and I take the picture then sure, that sounds good," He replied, looking over the film he had, ready for the dance. She rose her own eyebrow at him.

"You okay there? You look a little distracted," She asked, concerned.

"Just something on my mind is all, no big deal," He shrugged, sighing. "So, think Sweetie Belle will mind if I write about her performance in the Foal Free Press?"

"I'm sure she'd love it," Scootaloo replied, skipping right past some show about human girls fighting off evil with the power of unity. "Darn My Little Human, pops up everywhere."

"Um..Scootaloo?" She turned to a suddenly very red faced Featherweight, twiddling his hooves.

"Yeah? What is it?" She asked, looking a lot more concerned now. _He isn't sick, is he? Maybe he hasn't been eating enough, again. I told him those magazine models are unrealistic aspirations!_

"I...er...I was wondering. Have you ever thought...that maybe..." She was now placing a hoof on his forehead, making sure he wasn't running a fever.

 _Ah jeez, why does she have to get so close...She smells nice...OKAY NO CREEPY THOUGHTS!_ He shook her off and tried to steel himself up for his question. "It's just...Well, we've gone to all these things together...and I just..."

"You don't want to go to this one with me?" Scootaloo asked, feeling a little hurt by this. She was relieved, however, when he shook his head.

"No I do! I really do! It's just...I thought maybe...This one we could be...You know, on an actual..." She held her breath subconsciously as he swallowed all the resolve he could muster. "...date?"

Featherweight let out a sigh of relief, finally managing to get his thoughts out in the open. However, looking up at Scootaloo's shocked face, he flinched a little. _Ah man! Did I ruin everything?! I knew this was a bad idea!_

Scootaloo's thoughts were, similarly, running wild. _Did he ask me out? It sounded like me out! What do I do?! I don't want to be a wimp, so I should decline, right?_ She looked up into Featherweight's hopeful eyes and stopped herself. _Okay, maybe not the best idea to shoot him down for something like that! Besides, Sweetie Belle's not one to call the kettle black!_

 _Okay, okay, getting off track here! Let's just sort everything out! Let's start with the positives if you agree. First off, it's just a date, not a marriage proposal so if it goes wrong it's not the end of the world. Second, you know Featherweight and he's cool and he can keep up with you. Third, it'd be nice to have a permanent pony to go to all these things with, you were getting afraid of him getting bored of you._

 _Alright negatives..._ She paused at that and she seemed to strain her face a little. _Huh, that's weird. I can't think of any...Except the obvious; if it doesn't work out, you'll lose your friendship with him._

The silence reigned around Featherweight for, what seemed like hours, before Scootaloo let a small sigh. "Oh sure," She answered, grinning at him, mischievously.

Featherweight blinked in surprise. He hadn't actually expected her to accept. He expected her to call him a wimp and leave or something. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean you're cool and I trust ya and junk so let's go for it," She answered, before scooting over to sit right next to him, causing his face to light up even more than it already was. "Besides, I kinda want to see why Sweetie Belle makes such a big deal about all this," She continued, nuzzling her head under his.

His fur felt, surprisingly soft and pleasant against her own and she let let out an involuntary giggle as she felt his breath against her ears. But, as an after thought, she said. "You tell anyone about the snuggling and I'll kick your flank."

Featherweight grinned, stupidly, and nuzzled into her mane. "Noted."

* * *

Applebloom entered the castle to ask Twilight if she needed someone to look after Owlisious while she was at the dance, hoping to avoid the embarrassment of turning up on her own.

That's when she noticed Spike put down a phone and let out a stressed sigh. "Um...You okay there Spike?"

"No..." He replied, pointing out a plug outlet on the wall. That's when she noticed that it was upside down. "We got an electrician in a few days ago to wire the castle and he put in, like, twenty sockets. Nineteen of them are fine, but this one, for some reason, is the wrong way round."

"Okay, how did that happen?" Applebloom asked, confused. "Ya have ta actually try ta screw up that badly!"

"I know. I called them to come fix it, but they said they wouldn't cause they didn't do anything wrong, cause it works," Spike finished, sitting on the floor and curling up in a little ball, his eyes starting to mist up.

Applebloom felt her face harden as she marched up to the phone, looked at the number that he had underlined previously, and dialled, holding it up to her ear. _How dare they make mah friend cry like that! Well they're going ta fix this buck up one way or another!_

"Hello, this is Positive Node, how can I help you?"

"Hello, Ah'm calling on behalf of tha Castle of Friendship and it appears that you've fitted one of tha plug sockets upside-down."

"Are you sure?"

Applebloom stood there for a second, looking as if she were asked what her favourite colour was to discern whether or not she could count to ten. "Well, hang on Ah'll check. Well yeah, mah friend is here, we're roughly tha same heigh, his eyes are above his mouth an' when Ah drop things, they fall towards mah hooves. So Ah appear ta be tha right way up!"

"So, you'd prefer them all the same way round, would you?" Applebloom's eye twitched.

"Yeah, Ah'm old school, what can Ah tell ya? Ah can't help it!" She answered, trying her best not to yell at this point. _Jeez, it usually takes more than this ta wind me up like this! He's asked two questions and Ah'm about ta flip mah lid!_

"Okay...Well what do you expect me to do about it?" He asked, pompously causing Applebloom to take a deep breath through gritted teeth, not noticing Spike looking up at her.

"As far as Ah can see, there's two things you could possibly do..." She started, her voice slowly elevating as she continued. "The first one involves you coming round an' flipping tha socket around. And tha other one involves you tryin' ta convince tha world ta start living upside-down, doesn't it?!"

Before he could interject, she added. "And Ah'd argue that tha second one would require a lot more work than tha first, cause you'd have ta travel tha world, spreading tha gospel of Saint, Flippin' Nut-Job tha Inverted! An' then you'd have ta bounce back here on yer head and flip over tha other nineteen ya did tha right way round in tha first place!"

She heard some stumbling in tha background and then a sigh. "I'll be round in ten minutes."

"Thank you," Applebloom replied, before she threatened. "Cause if yer not Ah'll have ta git mah friend's dad ta buy yer company ta replace you with somepony who can do their job right in the first place!" She yelled out, before slamming the receiver and sighed through her mouth.

"Wow..." She blinked and noticed Spike looking at her with a strange look. "You...really told him."

Applebloom chuckled and took some deep breaths. "Yeah...AJ said Ah'm a little quick ta get angry. Speakin' o' which," She said, taking out a rolled-up piece of paper from her mane and unrolled it, grabbing a pencil behind her ear.

"What's that?" Spike asked, moving to sit next to her.

"It's an anger management form," She replied, rolling her eyes. "Ah have ta write down every time Ah git angry, what time it was, how angry Ah was, what happened, how tha situation resolved..."

"Sounds like this would..."

"...get me more angry than Ah was in tha first place?" She asked, smiling. "At first, yeah, but it's a habit now," She answered, finishing the sheet and putting it back. "Are you feelin' better?"

Spike sighed, rubbing what remained of his tears from his eyes. "Yeah, I guess. It's just...the stress of today really bore down on me. What with Rarity going to get a coltfriend, Twilight leaving me to deal with guys like that and nopony seems to be available to go to the dance, so I'll be on my own and..." Spike clenched his eyes shut, before his mouth started to run off and upset him more. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Applebloom replied, smiling. "But Ah can help ya out with one of those things."

"You already did," Spike smiled, gratefully, pointing towards the phone. "Sounds like that guy was taken down a peg or two."

Applebloom paused and then shook her head, grinning. "Right. I can help ya out with another one then," He was about to ask before he felt her hoof go around his shoulders. "Ah can go ta tha dance with ya, Ah ain't got a date neither an' yer pretty hot."

Spike felt his face flush as she started giggling at his reaction. That was when her words caught up with him and he smiled, brightly. "Really?!"

"Eeyup!" She answered, letting him go and heading towards the kitchen. "So Ah wanna hang around an' make sure tha guy on tha phone actually shows up, so wanna talk fer a while?"

"Sure!" Spike replied, following after her, before he placed a claw on her shoulder. She turned to him, quizzically as he smiled, deviously back. "And you're pretty hot too. Especially when your angry."

Applebloom flushed red and she giggled in embarrassment.

* * *

Big Mac ducked into Rainbow Dash's 'ground home' and looked around. It was a cosy little cottage with a fireplace, fluffy rug, shelves with framed pictures and a hall to lead into the kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms. One of the stranger things, however, was that instead of chairs or a sofa, there were a few large cushions and a TV was sat in the corner with a PlayStallion hooked in.

Rainbow grinned and flopped onto a light blue cushion. "Welcome to casa de me! Make yourself at home, guest room is the one opposite the kitchen, next to mine. Don't go in my room, unless I give ya permission and don't eat my pizza rolls, other than that go nuts," She explained quickly, reaching down to take her sweater off, throwing it onto the orange cushion next to her.

Mac blinked, shrugged and sat on the red cushion by the fire place, tilting his head at Rainbow. She noticed his shivering, and waved her hoof towards the pile of logs. "Knock yourself out, buddy, I'm gonna get a drink," She replied, getting up to go to the kitchen. "Want anything?"

"Eeyup," He answered, picking up a log and setting it up in the middle.

Rainbow waited a little longer, hoping he'd be a little bit more elaborate. However, when he went about his task, she realised she's just going to have to guess.

She let out a breath as she entered her small kitchen, populated by an oven, fridge-freezer, pantry and sink. _Guess hot chocolate is as good as anything,_ She thought to herself as she turned on the ring hob and filled a saucepan with milk to boil.

She then opened one of the cupboards and fetched the cocoa powder, hearing a rustling in her front room. She collected two novelty large mugs that Pinkie insisted she had, and dumped a bunch of the powder in each one, hoping to have put enough in before investigating the noise.

She noticed that Mac was studying the games cabinet, fetching out ones he thought were interesting and stared at them. She chuckled to herself as she went back to making the drinks.

After a few minutes, Rainbow balanced the two mugs on her wings and entered the room, noticing that Mac was reading the synopsis of one of her favourite games. "Ah yeah, that's Silent Hill Two," She explained, causing him to look up. "It's a great psychological, survival horror game."

He tilted his head and motioned towards the TV. "Um...Sure, you can play it if you want," Rainbow answered, confused as to why he'd want to. She assumed he was all work and no play, so to speak.

When he looked over the machine in front of him, confused, she chuckled. "Here," She said, pressing a few buttons, and slotting him the game disk, allowing the title screen to appear. After that, she got a memory card from a little tin besides the TV. "I don't think me or Scoots have a save on this one."

After that, she handed him his hot chocolate and the game controller. "Don't worry about the buttons, the game will tell you how to play."

"Eeyup," Mac answered, pressing the start button. Rainbow bit her lip in frustration.

 _Okay, wow! He has not said anything but eeyup all day, this is actually kind of impressive!_ She thought to herself. _I mean he communicates fine, I guess, but it'd be nice to hear his voice for a little longer than a second at a time!_

She noticed that the main protagonist, Late Summertime, has just arrived in Silent Hill to look for his dead wife, Calming Summertime.

"Um..." Mac said, causing Rainbow to turn to him. "...If his wife is dead, why is he bothering ta look fer her?"

Rainbow blinked in surprise. _Did he just...say something? Something other than eeyup or nope?_

He flinched under her gaze and focused back on the game. She shook the thoughts from her mind, and the blush off of her face. She had found his deep, booming voice kind of...sexy.

"Uh...oh! Well, uh, he's just kind of in shock and probably wants to see her again. You know, all that lovers stuff," She replied, rubbing one hoof with the other. Mac turned and nodded, smiling.

* * *

With one day to go, Applebloom, decked out in a red parka and bright pink scarf, and Pinkie in her usual attire stood at the train station, awaiting the arrival of Babs Seed and Cheese Sandwich respectively. "So you got a date with Spike, huh? Good for you! I'm sure you guys are going to have a great time!"

Applebloom smiled back. "Thanks Pinkie, and it's good ya managed ta get Cheese ta come on down, especially this close ta Heart's Warming."

"Well he'd usually spend Heart's Warming on his own, but I decided that'd be no fun at all, so then I thought, wouldn't it be fun if I invited him to spend time with me and my family like I did with you guys last Heart's Warming, you sure you can't come this year?" She suddenly asked, causing the little yellow filly to jump a little.

"Oh uh yeah, we're sure. Fluttershy's family can't make it to her place until New Years and she'd be alone unless we invited her over," She explained, apologetically.

"Right a rooney, so anyway, I explained our traditions and he said it sounded like fun so he's going to spend Heart's Warming with us! Isn't that great?!" Before Applebloom could answer, a train pulled up to the station and opened it's doors.

" **We have now arrived in Ponyville! Please ensure you have all your personal belongings with you, when leaving the train,"** The announcer announced as two or three ponies left the vehicle.

Applebloom spotted the pink maned, orange filly dressed in a green parka and green scarf ahead of her and rushed up to hug her. "Cousin Babs!"

"Howdy cuz'!" Babs replied, smiling and returning her hug, before pulling her eyes. "So a little birdy told me that youz got yer cutie mark, can Ah see it?"

"Only if ya show me yers," Applebloom grinned, as they both turned and bumped their flanks together, giggling.

" _Cutie Mark Crusaded! Yay!"_ They both cheered, as Pinkie bounced right past them.

Babs then looked around and sighed. "Guessin' that lazy bum of a coltfriend Ah have is sleepin' in, huh?"

Applebloom rolled her eyes back, good heartedly. "Give 'im break, Babs, it is seven in tha mornin'," She answered, grabbing one of her bags and motioned towards the farmhouse. "Now c'mon, Applejack's makin' waffles!"

"Sweet!" Babs cheered as the two rushed off. Leaving Pinkie to bounce into the awaiting hug of Cheese, who just wore his poncho and sombrero, which had several candy canes poking out of it. "Oh Cheese, I missed you so much! Last time you sent a letter was, like, four days, five hours, twelve minutes and twenty six seconds ago!"

"Great to see you too Pinkie Pie, oh I'm so excited! I've never been to a formal party before, I brought the perfect outfit!" He replied, opening his bag and jumped into it, before popping out, wearing a fancy tux and and monocle, Boneless Two popping out of the pocket. "I say, milady, would care for a hokey, cokey?"

Pinkie giggled, before composing herself, holding her chin high and placed her hoof into his outstretched one. "I would, kind sir Blue Cheese," She replied, before the two started to dance in the middle of train platform.

* * *

"You two are so sickeningly cute!" Button's older brother, Gibson, mentioned from across the brown colt and white filly, wrapped around an overly long green scarf, her head resting on his shoulder, with Button blushing in embarrassment.

"They are, aren't they?" Love Tap, Button's mother, replied, setting out four plates of pancakes for everypony. "So, Gibson, do you have a date to the dance?"

"Huh?" The late-teenage colt asked, syrup dripping from his mouth as well as parts of pancake. Button and Sweetie Belle started giggling at him while his mother rolled her eyes.

"Date? Do you have a date?" Gibson swallowed his mouthful and grinned, proudly at her.

"Yeah, I'm going with this cute girl called Cloud Flitter. I met her when I went to get Button's Heart's Warming present," He answered, grinning at the brown colt. "And I expect something in return this year."

"I already did that!" Button replied, happily. "Sweetie kept pushing me away from the arcade whenever I got distracted!" Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes as she took a bite out of her meal.

"...Stop being cute, you two! I mean it!" Gibson threatened, teasingly. The two blushed and stuck their tongues out at him.

"No!" They replied in unison, causing Gibson to twitch. Love Tap sighed, but smiled fondly.

 _My children are growing up so fast,_ She thought to herself as her sons kept bickering while Sweetie Belle decided to just nuzzle her head into Button's shoulder. _And yet, they're still just like little kids!_ She giggled and started to eat her own food.

Once they had finished their food, Gibson grabbed the plates and put them in the sink. "Alright mom, I'm gonna take these two to Sweet Apple Acres, then I'm going to meet up with Flitter for coffee. Don't wait up!"

As soon as they left, she sighed and looked at the family picture by the door. "Wish you could make it, Hard Disc," She muttered to herself, knowing her husband couldn't get down from the Royal Guard until Heart's Warming Eve, so she'll be dateless for the dance. But, so long as her children enjoyed themselves, she'll be just fine.

* * *

Rainbow flinched as sunlight from her window hit her in the face and she buried her face into her pillow to try and keep it away.

That's when she noticed her pillow was surprisingly furry. When she cracked an eye open, she noticed a red hoof in front of her and her eyes snapped open, now noticing that she had fallen asleep against Mac, the foreboding soundtrack of Silent Hill still playing in the background with the 'You are dead' screen, covered in pixelated blood.

At first, she was kind of surprised, noticing that she had only fallen asleep against him, so they weren't hugging or anything, before shrugging and snuggling back up against him. _Ah, beats my usual pillow!_

* * *

Rumble knocked on the door to the farmhouse with a daisy in his mouth, quickly slicking his mane up in the reflection of Winona's surprisingly shiny food bowel.

The door opened, revealing itself to be Applebloom behind it.

The two stared at each other, awkwardly, for a few seconds, before Rumble asked: "Ish Babsh shere?"

Applebloom turned from the door and called out into the kitchen. "Babs, yer coltfriend's here!"

After she left, Babs quickly replaced her and gave the grey colt a big hug. "Good ta see you Rumble!" She said, nuzzling his cheek. "Ah missed ya!"

"I mished you choo, Babsh," He replied, backing up and pointing to the flower in his mouth. "Thish ish fer you."

Babs rolled her eyes and took the flower from him, their lips lightly brushing against each other and pulled back, taking it and putting it behind her ear. "Now Ah feel purdy."

Rumble chuckled, grinning stupidly at her. "So do you want to go on a walk, or something? Catch up a little?"

"Uh..." Babs stumbled, looking back at Applebloom, who rolled her eyes and motioned towards the door. Babs smiled back, gratefully, and turned back to him "Sure, let's go!" She answer, pressing up against his side as they walked towards the orchard.

* * *

Discord hummed happily as he helped Fluttershy decorate her little cottage. She hadn't gotten around to it yet, since she had so many animals to help get ready to hibernate until spring, and Discord had mentioned it this morning.

"Oh Rarity was so happy that you helped her out, Discord! I've never seen her so...excited and...It was just such a nice thing for you to do!" She gushed to him as he scratched the back of his head, sheepishly.

"Well, after all that business with Tirek, I realized that I never really made up for it," He explained, putting a giant, plastic candy cane on one side of the pathway towards her house while she was putting one up on the other side. "I just thought, maybe..."

"Oh Discord, I didn't know you were still feeling guilty about that," Fluttershy replied, looking up at him in concern. "You know we all forgave you, right?"

Discord, uncharacteristically, sighed depressively. "I know that, my dear friend, but I just...It's this funny achy feeling that just felt better when Rarity hugged me...Like I was...appreciated," He explained. Fluttershy then realised that she was wearing a doctor's coat and holding a clipboard, while Discord was spread out on a therapist couch.

"W-well..." She squeaked out, suddenly feeling like she was being put on the spot. "Maybe...you feel like you're not actually...well very kind even though you've been reformed. And when you finished those dresses for Rarity, and um...pizazzed her other ones, you felt good about yourself because you truly helped a friend out and were genuinely kind to her."

"Hm..." Discord contemplated, rubbing his chin with his talon. "Well, the other time I felt like that was how happy you looked when I agreed to go as your date for the dance. I guess I helped you out and were kind to you as well, right?"

Fluttershy blushed, nervously, and hid behind her mane. "Um yes...It was very nice of you..."

He smiled, as if reaching an epiphany of some kind. "And I'm getting that feeling again now, helping you put up Heart's Warming decorations because you've been too busy to put them up by yourself!"

He picked Fluttershy up and hugged her tightly to his chest, which felt suspiciously like a pillow. "Oh we worked it out Doctor! I'm cured! I just have to go help out more often!" He grinned, causing Fluttershy's face to light up in both embarrassment and asphyxiation.

After a while of this, he looked down and noticed his yellow friend was looking a lot more like his purple one before his eyes widened and quickly dropped her. "Oh I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

Before she could answer, he clicked his fingers and he was wearing a Doctor's outfit. "Quick, I need ten cc's of air! Proceeding to letting her breath on her own and not doting over her like a new-born puppy!" He replied before he put a talon to his chin. "So it appears my plan is to do nothing...Sound good to me!" He smiled, cheerfully, throwing his Doctor coat away, hearing a crash and a cat yelping in the background.

Fluttershy shook out of it and looked up at him. He was now lounging in a hammock which is, apparently, being suspended in mid air by nothing, wearing a Hoovaiian shirt and drinking from a coconut. "Ah, doing nothing and still saving the day! It's every heroes dream!"

Fluttershy sighed, but still smiled fondly at him. It was just Discord being Discord.

She then turned and rummaged around in the box of decorations, deciding to just wait until he's ready to start helping again.

* * *

Rainbow sighed in resignation when she felt Mac finally start to stir. _Well, it was bound to happen at some point,_ She thought to herself as she got up and stretched out like a cat would, Mac looking up at her, bleary eyed.

"Morning Mac Attack, you want breakfast?" She asked, smiling brightly. Mac blinked a few times, before smiling.

"Eeyup," Rainbow sighed a little, rolling her eyes.

"And back to this," She said before she knew what she was doing. Her eyes suddenly bugged out and spun to look at Mac, tilting his head to the side. "I mean. Uh, well. Just ignore me, I don't think right when I've just woken up!" She laughed, nervously, heading into the kitchen.

Mac lifted an eyebrow and turned to the game system before him. He had had a lot of fun playing the game and talking about some of the scenes with Rainbow, who had spent a lot of said talks 'geeking out', so to speak.

That's when the realisation suddenly hit him and he smacked a hoof into his face. _Of course! Rainbow wants me ta talk more!_ He thought to himself, as if it were obvious.

He walked into the kitchen to notice that she was cursing to herself, fiddling around the place to try and find some thing. "Why do I keep forgetting where everything is?!"

He smiled at her and placed a hoof on her shoulder, causing her to turn and face him. "You need some help there?"

Rainbow blinked in surprise, before smiling brightly. "I sure do, looking for the eggs for omelets!" She answered, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "It's the only thing I know how to cook!"

Mac chuckled along with her and pointed towards the novelty chicken with six eggs along it's back. "Is that them?"

Rainbow turned to them and rubbed the back of her head, sheepishly. "Eheh, yeah. Sorry, I only stay here two months out of the year, at most, so it's easy to lose track of things."

She got about to making her guest something, at least, passable for breakfast as he went back into the main room to put away her game and such, the fire having burned out during the night.

She smiled, fondly, about last night and how well the two seemed to hit it off. She even managed to convince him to visit her in the future for more gaming sessions. She thought it was silly when Rarity told her that Button and Sweetie bonded over gaming, but she could see how it happened now!

She heard the music shut off and Mac went towards the pantry and fetched two plates, setting them on the table, before finding the salt and pepper shakers as well.

After she was done, she was oddly proud of herself. She managed not to burn them this time, and they didn't seem to be undercooked. She passed one to Mac, who nodded in thanks and took a small bite out of it, obviously trying to be polite.

Rainbow grinned, rolling her eyes. "No need to try and be fancy, Mac, just dig in!" She declared, taking a big bite out of her own and started to chuckle at his dumbfounded expression. Said expression, however, soon morphed into a grin as he started to match her bad table manners with his own.

After they were finished, Rainbow leaned back in her chair and looked up at Mac. That's when the whole scene suddenly hit her all at once. A little cottage with just her and Mac, waking up together, her preparing breakfast for the two of them and sitting down to eat. That sounded very...domesticated and homely.

She had to fight off the rather large blush forming on her face, trying very hard not to think about it too hard. Especially the sudden thoughts of moving down here permanently! She loved her cloud mansion! It was in the air, free and most importantly...

...empty.

She shuddered as that thought suddenly crossed her mind. Only two of her friends can actually visit her, without hassling Twilight for a cloud walking spell and her air-balloon and it'll be a while before Scootaloo could make it up to her home for a sleepover.

She's starting to see why a ground home appealed to Fluttershy so much. This little place is just outside of the town centre so all her friends could visit, it doesn't have many spare bedrooms, but she found out today that the front room was more than capable of providing a comfortable sleeping environment. She could even turn the guest room into a permanent room for Scootaloo so she could leave some stuff here and not worry about having to find her to get said stuff back.

And Mac could easily visit anytime he wanted too. She didn't have many things, so it'd be easy to transfer it own here and she could make a lot of extra bits selling...

She violently shook her head of those thoughts, causing Mac to tilt his head in concern. She sighed. "It's...It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"Too late fer that," She shuddered at the sound of his voice, looking up at him confused.

"Why are you talking all of a sudden?" The big red stallion recoiled a bit but, ultimately, did see the question coming. It wasn't like it'd be crazy to ask somepony as reserved as he is, why he's suddenly talking.

"...You seem ta like it when Ah talk," He replied, shyly, rubbing his jaw a little as it started to strain. Rainbows eyes widened back, not expecting that answer.

"Really?" She asked, getting a nod in reply. "...Well in the interest of making me happy, why didn't you talk much before?" She inquired, trying her best to change the subject and, maybe, forget about what she was thinking previously.

"...Well..." He started, waving a hoof towards the window which, conveniently, showed the apple orchards in the distance. "Ah'm a farmer, thus Ah like efficiency. Short and sweet may as well be mah motto," He grinned, pointing towards the sky. "Besides, Ah don't think Ah need ta have an in depth conversation about tha weather being nice."

Rainbow got a chuckle out of that as she took the dishes and dumped them into the sink. _Ah, I'll get them later...Or wait until Rarity comes round, she has a panic attack and does them for me. Whichever comes first._

"So, you got chores today?" Rainbow asked, causing him to look up at her. "Cause, you know, I have a spare scarf and hat and, well, I kinda wanted to maybe learn a bit about you and junk," She continued, now flushing a deeper red then before. _Jeez, that's the kind of stuff Rarity would say!_

Mac blinked. _Well Ah do have a few chores, like feedin' tha animals an' such..._ He thought to himself, looking up at Rainbow's flushed but hopeful face. _...Aw shucks, Ah think AJ can handle handle that on her own!_

"Eenope...Ah mean, no I don't!" He answered, shaking his head. Rainbow sighed in relief and grinned at him.

"Cool, and just because I like ya talking more, doesn't mean you have to answer all my questions with a sentence," She said, leaving to fetch her spare winter gear.

* * *

"...What is this?!" Scootaloo asked, watching some movie with Featherweight where an incredibly fake looking eagle suddenly dived down and exploded on a building.

"Uh...Only the greatest movie ever!" Featherweight replied, grinning. "It is, by far the most incompetently put together film in the history of forever!"

"...And you say this is the greatest movie ever?" The orange Pegasus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Am I gonna have to called the psychiatric hospital again?"

"Haha! The background's moving but the birds aren't!" He laughed, pointing to the screen. Scootaloo continued to give him the deadpan stare. "Aw c'mon, you've never watched a bad movie just to make fun of it before?"

"No," She answered, looking at the screen and then doubling over in laughter. "Are they using coat hangers as weapons?!"

"Not even wire ones," Featherweight confirmed, looking up at the clock. "Aw, shoot! We're supposed to be meeting up with your friends at Applebloom's place, aren't we?"

Scootaloo looked up and cursed. "Guess we'll continue...Wait have I been here all night?!" She yelped, suddenly feeling her joints pop and crack, having done nothing for a while. He blinked and gave out his own gasp.

"Aw jeez, sorry Scoots. I don't sleep a lot, and I forgot you had to go home at some point," He explained, getting up as well, strangely without the bone popping.

"I really think you should see someone about that, it can't be healthy to be awake for so long," She explained, nodding her head towards the door. "But for now, we need to get to Sweet Apple Acres!"

"Wait!" She sighed and turned, impatiently, towards him. "Don't you need to let your parents know where you were?"

She waved a hoof in dismissal. "Ah, they'll assume I was round Sweetie Belle's place and Rarity will just cover for me since she doesn't actually know, whether or not, I was there," She explained, walking towards him, grabbing his hoof, and pulling him towards the door. "Now c'mon, before they eat all the snacks again!"

Featherweight stumbled in step behind her, blushing madly. "Dad! I'm going out, see you tonight or tomorrow, okay?"

" _YEAH!"_ Replied an overly muscle bound stallion in the kitchen, eating some cereal in a bowel.

* * *

"Table over here, guys!" Pinkie called out to Caramel and Noteworthy, holding said table in their teeth from either side. They placed it down before Pinkie placed her hoof to her chin. "Actually a little to left!"

Caramel pushed and Noteworthy pulled the table a little. "Actually, to the right a little bit more!" They complied, causing Pinkie to reply. "Actually to the left more!" They sighed and did as they were told. "No wait, put where it was before!" They did so and Pinkie smiled, brightly. "Perfect!"

"This is the exact same place it was when we picked it up!" Noteworthy yelled out in realization, looking around the familiar environment. Pinkie rubbed the back of her head, sheepishly.

"Yeah I know, I was thinking about having it over there, but it actually looked better over here, so I got you guys to go in a big circle so it didn't feel like I wasted your time!" Caramel rose an eyebrow at her.

"So to make it feel like you didn't waste our time, you wasted more of it?" Pinkie nodded, brightly, causing Caramel to sigh. "Figures, I'm going to go see if Bon-Bon needs help with the tinsel," He said, before leaving.

"Yeah I'm gonna make sure Ditzy doesn't knock the stage down again," Noteworthy nodded, before leaving as well. Pinkie blinked and looked around, sighing.

"And now I'm alone..."

"No you're not!" Cheese announced, popping out from under the newly set up table, causing Pinkie to jump back in surprise. "Ha! Scared you!" He announced, chuckling. "Just had to hold onto the bottom of that table for three hours to do it!"

"I was wondering where you'd gotten too!" Pinkie replied, grinning and tapping him in the shoulder. "And you certainly did, that's fourteen to you and twelve to me!"

"You gotta catch up!" He replied, grabbing her hoof in his own in an attempt to pull her towards the fence to help set it up, only to feel a large electric shock shoot up his arm, causing his mane to poof up even more.

Pinkie giggled, revealing a joy buzzer in her own hoof. "I already am!" She replied, uncharacteristically smug, bouncing towards to fence set up area herself. Cheese shook the ash off of his mane, ginning competitively.

"Oh it is on!" He said, playfully narrowing his eyes and chasing after her.

* * *

"Got around to asking Doc for that date yet?" Noteworthy asked, passing a large novelty candy cane up to the grey mailmare.

Ditzy sighed, taking it and hanging it over the edge of the top railing. "No, deliveries have been hectic these last few days, I've barely had enough time to get a Heart's Warming gift for Dinky," She answered, wobbling a bit as her balance was challenged, before she shot out her wings and got it back.

"Man that sucks," He replied, looking over and noticed Doctor Time Turner himself trying to untangle Heart's Warming lights, only to end up tying up his own hooves together and falling over backwards. He then turned upwards, only to notice that Ditzy ad fallen over and landed with a thud right next to him. "Ditzy..."

"I'm sorry! I just don't know what went wrong!" She interrupted, springing up, only for the four candy canes she set up previously to fall around her. "...Oops."

"Hey why don't you help Doc out, I think he might need it," Noteworthy mentioned, nodding towards the tied up stallion. Ditzy looked over, giggled and made her way over.

"Okie doki!" Ditzy answered, flying over towards him.

Noteworthy smiled at her improved mood, but cringed when she accidently crashed into her crush and got herself tangled up with him. He sighed and went off to find Cloudchaser. "Sometimes, I don't know what could have gone wrong, either."

* * *

"Um...Hi Doc," Ditzy said, sheepishly with their muzzles pressed together and the both of them tied together with the lights. Time Turner blushed in response, looking away from his friend's eyes.

"How do you do, Miss Doo," He replied, laughing nervously. "Blimey, this is quite a pickle we've gotten ourselves into, huh?"

She blushed too, looking away as well. "Sorry. It's just..."

"You don't know what went wrong?" He answered, chuckling. "It's fine, I think I can get us out of this...hopefully," He continued, kicking his one free hoof out, catching one of the wires wrapped around Ditzy's hind leg and pulled it off, freeing said hoof.

After a little bit of struggling, the two finally managed to find their way out. But it required a lot of touching and rubbing and such, meaning a lot of blushing and murmured apologies, especially from a few ill-timed leg jerks from Ditzy's side.

"Great, withering stallions! That took some time now, didn't it?" He exclaimed, glaring at some of the ponies who had looked over at the commotion. "Thanks for help by the way, much obliged," Said ponies chuckled, sheepishly, and shuffled away.

Ditzy rubbed a forehoof with the other and quickly grabbed hold of the lights. "Need some help untangling these? I got kicked off of stage duty," She said, rubbing the back of her head, sheepishly.

Time Turner just smiled, happy to spend some time with his friend, and sat by her side, grabbing the other side of the lights. "I could use all the help I can get!" He answered, causing Ditzy to smile, brightly, and the two to set about their task.

* * *

Rainbow and Mac had walked past the arcade just as Rarity and Thunderlane were walking in the other direction, causing the two pairs to bump into each other. "Oh, hi dear!" Rarity greeted, brightly, as Thunderlane helped her to her hooves.

"Hey Rares," Rainbow answered, springing back up to her hooves, flapping her wings a couple of times for balance. She glanced over at the Pegasus by her side and grinned. "Finally got around to asking him out, huh? Took ya long enough!"

Rarity blushed and shot her friend a dirty look when she felt Thunderlane's eyes on her. "Yes, quite, I see you have a date as well?"

"Eeyup," Mac answered for her, causing Rainbow to raise an eyebrow at his sudden change in demeanor.

 _That's weird, he was talking earlier._

"Oh right, Rainbow!" Thunderlane suddenly stated, causing said mare to turn to him as he fetched a few forms out of his saddlebags. "Lucky I caught ya, Captain, higher ups need you to sign these before the years end or it'll be a minor inconvenience for the big wigs."

"Wouldn't want that," Rainbow answered, rolling her eyes but taking the forms anyway. "I'll do 'em tomorrow morning and send 'em the next day. That should appease the mighty overloads."

While she was talking to Thunderlane, Mac was listening to Rarity. "You did get the new rehearsal times, right dear?" She asked, referring to the Ponytones and when they were going to get together after the holidays. They couldn't preform at the dance because Toe Tapper had caught a bad cold and could barely say a word without hacking his guts up.

"Eeyup," Mac smiled.

"Great, Fluttershy will be joining a couple of sessions too, so the first few will be used to try to incorporate her into a few of our newer songs, so it doesn't throw our previously mastered ones out of tune. That's okay with you, isn't it?" Rarity asked, the two not noticing Rainbow pay a little more attention to their conversation.

"Eeyup," He answered again.

"Excellent, thank you Dear. I'm sure Fluttershy will be thrilled," She smiled, turning to Thunderlane. "Well we best be off, we're going to help preparations for the dance so Pinkie and Cheese can go help the Cakes bake some cookies and such," She explained, giving Rainbow a quick hug, before the two left.

Rainbow rose an eyebrow at Mac. "Back to one word answers, huh?"

Mac blinked and turned to her. "Oh uh...Well it's more a force of habit than anythin' else," He answered, shrugging. "Ain't gonna change overnight, ya know?"

Rainbow shook her head, grinning. "So I'm an exception, huh?"

Mac mimicked her looked. "Eeyup!" He answered, causing the two to start laughing.

* * *

"Almost...Almost..." Soarin said, carefully holding an apple against a pile of others. Applejack was just below him, placing several others into place.

"Phew. All done down here Soarin!" She called up to him, admiring the height of the spire of apples they made. They were almost finished, she just needed to wait for Soarin to place the last few on the top.

"Aaaaaand, done!" He declared, smiling brightly. "So, we gonna make snow pony guards next?" He asked, excitedly. Soarin had always loved the snow, making snow ponies and having snowball fights, rolling around to make pictures in the ground and trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue! He could never think of anything more fun!

Applejack chuckled at his enthusiasm, and headed off to the barn to get the buckets of snow that Mac collected yesterday. "Sure, let me just get some more snow first," She answered. When she opened the door, however, she took a large hoof full of snow to the face.

"Got her! Fall back!" Scootaloo announced as she and large group of young ponies escaped the barn through the back window. Applejack wiped the snow from her face, grinning.

"Oh no ya don't!" Applejack called back, fetching a bucket of snow. "Soarin! Change of plans! We're goin' ta war!"

"Sweet! Let me go get a snow cloud!" Soarin answered, taking off towards the sky.

Just as she turned back to give chase, several snow balls had been launched towards her. Only through her reflexes, did she manage to dive out of the way. "Darn it, reloading!" She heard her sister cry out as she saw a speck of pink and orange run between the trees, throwing more snow balls out towards her.

Applejack scrambled to her hooves, taking two or three to the chest before grabbing a bit of snow and throwing it back, nailing said speck in the cheek. _"AH! Ah'm hit!"_

Applejack used the distraction to take cover behind the barn, noticing Rumble grab her round her barrel and drag her behind a tree. _Guess Rumble's playin' their medic,_ She grinned. _But since they out number me an' Soarin, we get ta heal ourselves. They have ta git us in the head three times. Ah took one earlier, so Ah got two lives left._

She glanced up and saw Soarin pushing a cloud towards them. _"They're getting air support! Load the catapult!"_

 _Catapult?_ Applejack thought to herself, before rolling out to duck behind a larger mound of snow, throwing some quickly put together snowballs to force them behind the trees.

That's when she noticed Featherweight carrying a very large snowball and dumping it into a large, spooned wooden device. _Ooh, catapult._

" _Soarin! Look out!"_ She replied too late as Sweetie Belle and Button Mash both jumped onto the other end of the device and launched the massive pile of snow towards him.

Soarin eyes beheld the giant mound of frozen water as it blocked out light from behind it, his pupils turning to pinpricks when he realised he wouldn't be able to get away from it in time. "Well bu..." Was as far as he got before it smashed into him and he fell out of the sky.

Luckily he was close to the ground and the snow would cushion his fall. Not so luckily, Applejack was moving to catch him, so ended up getting hit too, the two being covered by a mountain of snow.

"Good shot, guys, two birds, one stone!" Applebloom cheered, as they, collectively, went further into the tree line.

Soarin's wings burst out of the snow heap and heaved the pile away, pulling Applejack out as well. "Damn, they're getting good. Guess air assault is out of the question," He mentioned, waving towards the catapult. "If they're really good, they'll have multiple of those set up."

"Got that right," Applejack agreed, grabbing a snowball, grinning. "Stay low and let's show 'em how it's done!"

* * *

"Alright: brushed mane, brushed teeth, little bit of make-up, scarf...check, check, check and check!"

"Great," Spike said to Twilight from his bed, rolling his eyes. "Now maybe you'll head over to the train station to get your coltfriend _before_ his train arrives," Twilight gave a smug grin from her vanity mirror.

"Not this time, Flash is coming here to pick _me_ up to get some coffee, before we head off for some dinner," She replied, before something occurred to her and she turned to give him her full attention. "And thank you so much for dealing with the electrician yesterday. I would've, but I needed to get some of that perfume Flash likes so much."

Spike waved his claw in a dismissive manner. "It's fine, I got it sorted," _With AB's help of course,_ He thought, fondly. Twilight, in response, hugged the little Dragon to her chest.

"Of course you did, I didn't doubt you for a second," She stated, using her magic to float a bag of gemstones to him, which he grabbed as soon as he saw them. "Here's a little bonus, as gratitude."

"Shanks Twiyight!" He replied, already munching on one of the emeralds. "You're the besht!"

She smiled, brightly, and nuzzled him in the cheek. "And you're my number one assistant...and my best friend!" He smiled even brighter, hugging her back. "If you want I'm sure I can get Flash to agree to take you with us?"

"Nah, you have fun, I'll just head over to AJ's place to see if Applebloom wants to hang out later or something," He answered, letting her go. When he noticed her looking at him funny, he explained. "Oh yeah, I'm going to the dance with Applebloom!"

"Oh! I could've sworn you were going to ask Rarity," She mentioned. Spike sighed.

"Well, Rarity's already got a date, so since me and Bloom didn't have a date, we decided to go together," He explained further, his eyes looking towards a plug socket, fondly. "Plus, when she got angry before, it was just so...so..."

"Attractive?" Twilight asked, knowingly. Spike nodded, before raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I just never noticed noticed how cute she was before she just flipped out at some guy," He explained, with-holding who she got angry at to save face in front of Twilight. He didn't want her to think he couldn't handle some jerk.

That was when he noticed that Twilight had finished his last sentence and rose his eyebrow at her. "Wait, how'd you know I thought she was attractive?"

"Well, apparently, dragons have an affinity towards stronger females," She explained, using a spell to hold up a book titled _'The Nature of Dragons'_ in a soft, purple glow. "It was just a theory at first, based on some of the dragons living around here, so I just guessed really."

"...huh, neat," Spike said, shrugging. It didn't matter to him, really, he had a date and that was that.

Twilight was slightly disappointed at the lack of response. At the very least, she was hoping Spike might want to read the book. Though she didn't get much time to dwell on it since the doorbell went off...before cutting off halfway through.

"Oh c'mon! Didn't the electrician do anything right?!" Spike exclaimed, about to go to the phone, before Twilight stopped him.

"It's fine, Spike, it does what it's supposed to do," She explained, before rushing towards the door and opening it, only to find Flash looking at her, sheepishly, between a stern looking Shining Armour and an embarrassed looking Cadence. "Um...Hi Shining? Cadence?" She found herself saying.

"I'm sorry, Twilight," Cadence said, sending a quick glare towards her husband. "But Pinkie sent us an invitation and Shining took any excuse he could to...'chaperone' Flash here."

Twilight turned to Flash, who smiled slightly, before quickly wiping it away when he felt his CO's eyes bore into the side of his skull. "Um...Hi Twilight..."

"Full title," Shining stressed, elbowing him.

"But she hates be..." He sighed when Shining glared at him harder. "Hi Princess Twilight."

Twilight's eye twitched at the name and she grabbed him by the hoof, before igniting her horn, sticking her tongue out at Shining, and teleporting the two away. Shining blinked in surprise while Cadence rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Well, what did you think was going to happen?" She answered his unasked question, walking into the building. "Now I'm going to lie down for a bit, I've been on a train for five hours, listening to all these 'rules' you've been giving to Flash which Twilight, herself, will probably break. I've got morning sickness and you better come snuggle with me, cause if you think about ruining Twilight's date, you'll be in the doghouse, mister!"

Shining gulped, turning to Spike, who had walked in to see what the commotion was, for help. In response, Spike grabbed his coat and snow boots, running out the door.

"Sorry dude, you're on own!" He called, running towards Sweet Apple Acres.

* * *

Applejack panted as she, Soarin and Applebloom leaned against each other with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle lying down, with their tongues hung out comedically, Babs and Rumble sat up against a tree, their heads pressed together and Button, holding a flower over his chest with his front hooves. The group were gathered around one of the clearings near the farmhouse, though surrounded by trees to give the area a forest like feel.

Applebloom pushed back, scooping up a snowball to throw, haphazardly towards them, managing to get Soarin to take him out of the game. "Just you an' me fer now, sis," Applebloom grinned, leaning on one side, having slipped over and scraped one of her knees earlier.

Applejack smiled back, competitively, and scooped up her own as her sister 'reloaded'. "Just a good old fashion stand off..." She said, as the two started to circle each other, now gaining the attention of the supposed 'dead', no-one wanting to miss such a spectacle.

Applebloom grimaced everytime she put pressure on her injured hoof, counting her blessings that she could still walk on it, and decided to try and end this quickly by throwing her snowball right at the orange mare's face.

Applejack, however, saw this coming and quickly stepped to the side, chucking her own snowball, hitting Applebloom dead centre in the chest, causing her to fall back, dramatically. "Sorry, sis," She gloated, walking up to her. "Ya should never throw first, gives tha other team tha chance ta counter..."

She paused when she heard Applebloom start to laugh and grin at her. "What's so funny AB?" Applejack asked, confused. "Soarin an' Ah won. We took ya out."

"Haha! Yeah, ya took out tha distraction!" Applejack blinked before she felt a sudden cold sensation on the back of her head. "Good hit Featherweight!"

 _Drat! Ah forgot all about him!_ She thought to herself, turning in surprise to see the little colt, sitting on his haunches, looking apologetic.

"Too bad I couldn't save my friends but, at the very least, they've been avenged," He said, dramatically, throwing the last one into Applejack's face, taking out her last life. The orange mare having been too surprised to do anything except say.

"Clever colt..." Before it hit and she fell over, sideways, her hat falling off dramatically. Featherweight looked amongst the scene around him and held a hoof to is chest, head lowered in contemplation.

"What have we become?"

After that line was muttered, the whole group burst out laughing, rolling around in the snow and creating many shapes in what remained of the snow after it was continually scooped up and thrown everywhere.

"Good job, you guys! You got us this time!" Soarin exclaimed, making his way onto his hooves. The others all following suit, however Applebloom flinched when she put pressure on her left forehoof again.

Applejack noticed this, and quickly looked her over. "Aw shucks, Sugarcube, ya shoulda told me ya got hurt," She told her once she found the scrape which wasn't bleeding, but still looked pretty painfully.

Applebloom snatched it away, looking away. "But ya woulda stopped tha game if'n Ah told ya an' we were gonna win fer once!" Applejack blinked, but smiled and picked her up, depositing the yellow filly on her back. "Hey!"

"Oh you can't tell me that don't hurt none. Now we'll just go, put bandage on it an' then make snow ponies. That sound good?" She asked. Applebloom pouted and folded her hooves as she accepted the ride. Soarin getting the others gathered to make a start on said snow ponies.

After Applebloom was sure her friends and cousin couldn't see her, she turned and hugged her sister from behind. "Can Ah have cookie once we're inside, please?"

Applejack chuckled and nuzzled her sister back. "Of course, Sugarcube!"

* * *

"Okay Discord..." Fluttershy said, looking at the piles of lemons and limes sat on her table. "If this is some kind of prank, I don't get it."

"What prank? I went to get the lemons and limes you wanted for that lemonade for the party!" He grinned, licking his lips. "And you do make good lemonade!"

Fluttershy blushed at the compliment, smiling, but still rose an eyebrow. "Okay, so why are there..."

"Seventy eight lemons and eighty nine limes? Well that's what you asked for, right?" Fluttershy sighed.

"No, I said seven to eight lemons and eight to nine limes!" She stressed, waving her hooves towards the pile which, for emphasis, caused the table to collapse under their weight.

"Oh...I thought I was getting a few too many, but I figured you knew what you wanted and I wanted to be helpful!" He replied, cheerfully, plucking one of the lemons from the pile, peeling it and began to chew it as if it were a piece of gum. His eyes then widened as he sucked in his cheeks. "That was a bad idea!"

Fluttershy let out another breath and picked a few up. "At least I have spares...So long as they keep, I guess," She muttered, just accepting that this one wasn't actually Discord's fault. He had just misheard her.

Discord shook his head and popped up besides her. "Need any help?" To his dismay, Fluttershy shook her head. "Aw c'mon, Fluttershy! I want to be useful!" He stressed, clicking his fingers, a little, golden-yellow, Labrador puppy dog appearing in his 'hands'. "Wook at his wittle face! He wants to make me useful!"

Fluttershy, not being able to resist a cute little animal throw in her face, immediately dropped everything to snatch the dog from him and stare at it with wide eyes, causing it to lick her face. "Aw! What an adorable little boy!" She squealed, then paused and lifted the puppy up a little, before bringing it down and smiling again. "An adorable little girl!"

Discord just floated there, waiting for Fluttershy to stop nuzzling the puppy for a few seconds before he sighed, slapping his lion paw into his forehead. "This is what I get, I suppose," He mentioned, clicking his talon, a fedora suddenly appearing on his head, as well as a cape on his back. "Consider that your early Heart's Warming present, I'm going to go find adventure! Super Helpful Discord away!"

Fluttershy paid him no mind, even as he smashed through the side of her cottage, leaving a Discord shaped hole in the wall next to the door. "Oh I'm going to call you Lemon. You like that name, Lemon?" The dog yapped happily, her tongue rolling out of her mouth. "I need to make lemonade right now, so you can play right Angel right now, okay?"

She put the Labrador next to her snow white rabbit, before the puppy licked him in his cheek, causing him to give Lemon an unimpressed stare, that she was completely oblivious too.

* * *

"What a wonderful afternoon!" Discord said to himself, deciding to walk along the snow covered pavements rather than float. He was aware of the towns ponies steering clear of him, but he didn't pay them any mind. If they needed help, they'd ask for it. "The snow covered landscape, the scent of baked goods, the clear skies! Why it's just about per..."

" _Look out below!"_ Almost inevitably, his rambling on how great the scenery looked was ruined by a grey Pegasus pony face-planting right into the side of his head, causing the two to crash into the house to their left.

After they realised what had happened, they looked up and came face-to-face with Lyra and Bon-Bon sitting on the sofa with a Porcupine between them, sitting much like Lyra was, holding a TV remote.

Ditzy and Discord blinked at the two, before Lyra rubbed the back of her head. "Uh...I can explain."

"No, no! Go back to your business," Discord quickly answered, suddenly feeling as if he didn't really need to make things any more chaotic than they appeared to be in this town, and pulled himself and Ditzy back through the hole, clicking his talon and fixing the wall.

Ditzy shook her head and rose an eyebrow. "Did that Porcupine have cheese and pineapple wedges on his spines?" Discord shook his head.

"The less questions, I find, the better," He replied, before scratching his goatee. "Hm, that sounds like something Twilight would say..." His eyes suddenly bugged out and he held his talon to his chest. _"Oh no! I've contracted Egghead!"_

Ditzy blinked as Discord started to make exaggerated, hacking and wheezing noises. "No! I...I don't want to...be a...geek!" He let out, before falling flat on his back, a bouquet of flowers sprouting out of his chest. "Tell Blueblood...he's a jerk..."

The mailmare blinked again, before giggling and poking Discord in the side of his head. "Don't be silly, mister, Egghead isn't a disease."

"It isn't?" She jumped a bit as she turned around and found Discord standing there with a bag of popcorn in his talon. "Huh, learn something new everyday."

She turned back around and noticed that, where there was once a 'dead' Dracoeques, there was now only a bag of jelly babies. She shook her head of the weirdness when he came up besides her and smiled, brightly. "Now let me introduce myself! My name is Discord, fun if you're bored, all around adored and I'm the best there is at what I do!" He grinned.

Ditzy smiled, brightly, and stuck out a hoof. "I'm Ditzy Doo, how do you do? I deliver mail to you!" She giggled, causing Discord to smile back.

"A little clunky, but not bad," He mentioned, before noticing something. She had glanced in the direction of some brown stallion, before letting out a sigh of relief. "So what problems can I help you with, tonight?"

"Problems?!" Ditzy yelped, blushing slightly. "What do you mean? I don't have any romantic problems! And they certainly don't involve that hunk of a stallion, Doctor Time Turner, at all! Nope, not one bit!"

Discord smiled brightly, turning to continue on his way. "Oh okay, if you're sure," He replied, cheerfully, about to start moving before he paused. "Waaaait a minute! You want that Doctor Time Turner to ask you out, don't you?!"

Ditzy cursed. _Drat! How did he know?!_

She sighed as he looked at her, imploringly, upside-down no less. "Okay, fine! But what can you do to help?!" She exclaimed, her ears folding down. "Why would he want me?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Discord answered back, poking her in the snout. "You're fun and cute, I'm surprised a pretty young thing like you hasn't been asked out already."

Ditzy's face lit up like wildfire, a large smile spreading across her face, before her eyes slipped apart and she shook her head to get them back into place. "W-well, I'm really clumsy and I break things all the time!"

"Aw, c'mon! That's pretty much Ponyville's catchphrase at this point!" He shot back, clicking his talon and creating a large sign that ready: 'Welcome to Ponyville, we break things all the time!' with a picture of Discord on the top shrugging his shoulders with a 'well, what can ya do' face.

Ditzy contemplated this for a second, before the self-esteem boosting comments from this stranger overcame her and her confidence boosted through the roof. "Okay, I'll do it! I'll ask him out!"

"Great! Because I'm teleporting us right in front of him!" Before Ditzy could ask what that meant, she found out that was exactly what he meant as the object of her affection suddenly had his face pressed against hers for the second time that day, Discord in the background accidently landing in a box labelled 'From the Broken Glass Factory'. _"YEOWCH!"_

The two, as well as the rest of town, looked towards him as he plucked out all the shards of glass from his body, strangely leaving no blood. "Who decided to build a business around making broken glass?!" He asked, grabbing a bottle of water, taking a big drink.

After a few minutes of nothing happening, Time Turner rose an eyebrow. "...You know, I was expecting..." Before he could finish, several streams of water shot out of where each of the new , non-visible holes were made. "Ah there's that tired trope!" Time Turner finished, before turning to Ditzy with a smile. "Your new friend is very interesting."

"Um...Yeah, eheh," Ditzy replied, red-faced, suddenly at a loss for words now that he was actually in front of her.

After several seconds of uncomfortable silence, broken only by Discord trying his best to plug up each of these holes with smiley faced plasters. "So...Um..." Time Turner muttered, a little speechless after everything that had just happened. "How are..."

"Do you have a date?!" Ditzy yelped out, clenching her eyes shut, her red face burning ever-brighter. Time Turner blinked, but shrugged.

"Nope, didn't have the time between fixing my house up and helping set up for the festivities tomorrow night," He answered, noticing that her wings were doing that thing they do when he was around. Start to straighten out and stand out like a ruler.

"W-well...I just...Maybe thought...I don't know..." She mumbled out, glancing at Discord, only to find him smiling at her, encouragingly. "Would you like to go with me as a date?!" She quickly asked, looking at the ground between them, Time Turner's eyes widening in shock.

 _Great withering stallions! I think she asked me out!_ His mind yelled at him, seeing her glance up at him, her eyes watering with embarrassment. She looked like she might just burst out crying if he didn't say something. _...Well, saves me the trouble!_

"Of course I'll go with you, Ditzy, it'd be a pleasure!" He smiled, causing her to look up, equal in his shock earlier before her smile broke through and she tackled him in a huge hug, causing the two to land in the box next to the broken glass, this box stating: 'From the Pillow Factory'.

" _Oh come on!"_ Discord yelled out when he noticed they had landed on something soft, covered entirely in plasters, before he shrugged with a smile broke out and he left. _Ah well, Super Helpful Discord, away!_

* * *

Spike walked in through the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres, blinking in confusion at all the snow ponies lining the pathway towards a large spire of apples in front of the farm house. "What the...?"

"Howdy Spike!" Applebloom cheered, a noticeable white bandage wrapped round her knee, running up to give him a hug.

"Hi Applebloom," He smiled, hugging her back, before motioning to the snow statues. "Do you mind explaining these?"

She turned to them and rubbed the back of her head, sheepishly. "Well, we were only gonna make, like, three or four. But it just sorta got out of control once we got up to twenty three."

Spike blinked, looking at the line of snow ponies, before shrugging. "Eh, okay. It's not the weirdest thing I've seen," He mentioned, poking one of them, noting it's surprising sturdiness. "Sooo, want to do something? Twilight's out with Flash and I don't want to be stuck in the castle with Shining Armour and Cadence all afternoon."

"Sure!" She grinned, turning to the farmhouse. _"AJ, Ah going out with Spike, don't wait up!"_

Spike blushed at her wording before he heard Applejack's reply. _"Okay! Don't blow anything up while yer in town!"_

" _No promises!"_ She answered, grinning and pressing the side of her head into Spikes arm to move him. "Want ta go throw snowballs at Discord?"

"If we can find him, and if we stay out of sight. I'd rather not spend the next three days trying to figure out where he put my tail," Spike replied, causing Applebloom to giggle and race off, Spike running to keep up.

While doing so, they ran past Big Mac and Rainbow, who had looked at the same snow ponies, before Mac sighed with a deadpan expression. "Eeyup, shoulda this comin'."

Rainbow grinned, trying to push one over. However, it stayed up surprisingly well. "Okay, what kind of snow did they..."

" _Boo!"_ The snow ponies suddenly shouted, throwing his hooves in the air, causing Rainbow and Mac to react in the only way they could.

" _Nyaahh!"_ They both cried out, Mac jumping into Rainbow's front hooves before she raced the two of them away to the farm house, not noticing Cheese shake the snow away, looking on in confusion.

"Whoops, that wasn't Pinkie," He mentioned to himself, before bouncing away in confusion. "And here I thought waiting at a place Pinkie isn't likely to visit any time soon would've surprised here even more!"

Once Rainbow had reached the front of the house, she quickly realised that she was carrying an Earth Pony Stallion at least a head taller than her and fell over forward, dropping Big Mac in the process. "Oof!"

Mac blinked and looked over to her, concern seeping off of his face. She looked up and waved it off. "Ah, I'm fine Mac, no need to worry!" She answered, rushing back to her hooves, blushing. Mac nodded and smiled with a proud look on his face.

"You certainly are strong, then, I must weigh about three hundred pounds, at least," He mentioned, lightly punching her in the shoulder. "That's really impressive!"

"Well obviously!" She grinned, proudly, smoothing out the fur on her left forehoof. "I just radiate awesome from every pore!"

Mac watched this demonstration for a while, listening to Rainbow boast about how cool she was, with a smile on his face. _Aw shucks, she's plain adorable when she does that!_

She was about to continue this display before the door opened and Applejack rose her eyebrow at him. "Well there ya are, Mac! Where were ya all night?" She then turned to find Rainbow standing in front of him, grinning at him before she came to her conclusion, letting a devious look on her face. "Oh Ah see how it is."

Mac turned to his sister, motioning with his hoof to tell her that it wasn't what she thought, before she stopped him and chuckled. "Hey now, what you two do ain't none o' mah business, jus' so long as ya keep it down while yer here," He let a glare on his face as he stared at her, causing her to rub her forehoof with the other. "Hey, we're workin' on it, alright!"

She turned, leaving the door open to let them in. Rainbow then shook her head as she realised that AJ had been talking. "Wait I missed the conversation, what was she talking about?"

"She thinks you an' Ah did tha deed last night," He answered, knowing that if he didn't tell her, she'd force the information from him in time. She blinked in response, before her usually blue face suddenly lit up and she chased Applejack into the house to argue that they did no such thing.

Mac sighed and shook his head. _Love ta see try an' git outta this one AJ._


	2. The Morning of the Dance

ML54: Wel, as you guys can see, I decided to make these next chapters a little more bite sized!

Twilight: A seventh of the size of the last chapter...

ML54: And I'm really sorry about the delay! I was busy procrast...I mean being really busy with Uni. That had nothing to do with Mystery Dungeons at all! Disclaimer!

Spike: *Raises Eyebrow* Who?

ML54: Anyone!

Sweetie Belle: ML54 doesn't own MLP!

 **The Morning of the Dance**

"Ugh! Really Shining?!" Twilight complained when she saw him glaring, unimpressed, at Flash over the dinner table as they were eating breakfast. Flash finding the floor by his hooves very interesting at the moment.

"Just making sure his posture doesn't slump on the job," Shining answered, running a critical eye over the Lieutenant. "Chin up, Soldier, eyes front!"

"Yes sir!" Flash answered, fearfully, not daring to go against his CO's orders less he get stuck with night patrol in Las Pegasus again. He shuddered at the thought.

Twilight groaned, turning to Cadence as she floated a piece of toast up to her lips. "Cadence! Shining's being mean to Flash!" Twilight whined, causing Shining to turn to her.

"Are you being a tattle tale?!" He complained, before being silenced by Cadence's silent stare. "Sorry Cadence..."

"Apologise to Flash, Shining," Shining Armour made an indigent whine before he flinched at his pregnant wife's even sterner look.

"Sorry...Flash," He said through gritted teeth, turning his glare to Twilight when he saw her stick her tongue out at him again. In response, he returned the taunt, causing Twilight to wave her hoof in a dismissive manner, clapping them together in a rude gesture.

Flash, unfortunately in the middle of this...'sibling disagreement', just decided to silently eat his food and hope to Celestia that he could have, at least, a few moments alone with Twilight before he had to go back to the Crystal Empire.

Cadence glanced at him and gave him a sympathetic smile.

* * *

"Well thanks for looking after him," Thunderlane said, glancing over at Rumble curled on the Apple Family sofa with Babs. "I just...didn't know he wanted to sleep over."

"Aw shucks, no problem Sugarcube," Applejack answered, smiling. "It's not like he was tha only pony we had ta look after. Shoot, we had a whole, gosh darn house full o' ponies last night! They mostly stayed in Applebloom's room...Though Ah guess Rumble and Babs wanted a moment alone. Want me ta git 'im up?"

Thunderlane looked over the two unconscious ponies, Rumble nuzzling into Babs' cheek, causing her to giggle and nuzzle back, and smiled. "Nah, let him sleep. The dance isn't til seven anyway, plenty of time."

Applejack nodded, motioning to the kitchen. "Ya want some coffee? Mac an' Ah just put a pot on."

"That does sound good, actually," He mentioned, yawning dramatically. "Was up pretty late last night, looking for that no good brother of mine."

Applejack grinned, rolling her eyes. "Least yer brother doesn't blow anything up on a regular basis," She mentioned, as she led him into the room where Mac sat, nursing his own mug of coffee. "Ya got enough fer one more, Mac?"

"Eeyup," He answered, sparing Thunderlane a smile, before quickly pouring him a mug and sliding it over to him.

Thunderlane took a swig and sighed, smiling. "That's the stuff," They both laughed at his comment before taking drinks of their own coffee. "Seriously though, I have a hard enough time with just one little brother, how do guys handle...how many kids stayed over?"

"Well Ah think it was: Yer brother, Babs, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Featherweight, Button Mash and Spike," Applejack answered, shrugging, noticing that Thunderlane was gawking at her.

"Eight kids!" He exclaimed, quietly, looking over the two. "How did you guys get any sleep?"

"We didn't," Applejack answered, motioning to her coffee. "What did ya think this was fer?" She grinned, taking another sip before she heard some hoof steps and noticed Rainbow Dash enter the kitchen, blinking.

"...This isn't my house," She stated, confused, scanning the area as if it would suddenly transform into her quaint little cottage. Applejack chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"Course this ain't, ya ninny, this is our place. After playing a few games with tha kids ya just zonked out on tha floor an' Mac let ya have his bed fer tha night," Applejack explained, sipping her coffee before pausing. "Oh right, want some coffee?"

Rainbow blinked again, before loud yawn escaped her and she nodded, almost falling into the empty space left by Mac as he went to get her a mug, drinking from his. "Thanks...But how did you know I'd be up right now?"

Thunderlane rose an eyebrow at her while Applejack let out a little chuckle. "We didn't, ya just drank Mac's coffee," Rainbow's eyes bugged out as she spat the liquid from her mouth, leaving the spray on the table, and rubbed her tongue. "Um...Why did ya do that?"

Mac turned to face Rainbow as well, her fresh mug of coffee in his hoof, watching as her face lit up redder than his fur. "Uh...Well, it's just...germs and stuff..." Mac blinked, crossing his eyes to look at his muzzle in confusion.

"Aw c'mon Sugarcube, ya really think ya gonna catch something from that?" Applejack asked, shaking her head in amusement. "Hate ta see how you'd cope with kissin' him."

If it was possible, Rainbow's face may have burned even brighter. Though Mac's did go a noticeable shade redder than usual too. "Th-That's different!"

"How is it?"

"I...well...it's..." Rainbow struggled, fighting her tangled tongue, her morning mind haziness and her own blush. "Shut up!"

"Ah see yer taking witty comeback lessons from Scootaloo then," Applejack mentioned, causing Rainbow to stick her tongue out at her, turning her back to her.

Though her face, when she was sure Applejack couldn't see it, took on a much paler hue. _How did she know?!_

"Hey keep it down guys!" Rumble suddenly interupted, causing them to turn to the doorway and notice that he was standing there with his mane sticking out in awkward positions, feathers ruffled and bloodshot eyes. "We're trying to sleep out here!"

The group mumbled out apologies before Rumble nodded and got back up onto the sofa to continue cuddling his fillyfriend.

They continued to sit there in silence as Soarin came down with a cheerful smile, having always been a morning pony, and sat down next to Applejack, only for his face to morph into confusion. "Uh...What did I miss?"

"We were just told off by a twelve year old..." Thunderlane mumbled, quickly draining his mug of it's brown liquid.

* * *

" _Oh c'mon! This is ridiculous!"_ Applebloom complained as she moved her character forward, only for several hundred crossbow bolts to hit her from multiple directions and killing her. "I don't even know if my character died from blood-loss or suffocation!"

Right now, she, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and their dates for the night were in her room, everyone having slept round last night, playing a game on the playstallion that Button had brought round. They may have gotten very little sleep in the process, but they didn't feel too bad considering their brains were being in constant use and the empty cans of energy drinks lying around may have had something to do with it too. _"Why is this game so hard?!"_

Button and Sweetie Belle rolled their eyes simultaneously, as they moved their characters to a much safer area. "You're the one who wanted to play on hard mode."

"Ah thought Ah was clicking medium!" Applebloom grumbled as she waited with her hooves folded, for Spike to get his character into a position to revive her. Featherweight and Scootaloo mearly watching the screen from atop of Applebloom's bed. "What deranged developer thought it'd be a good idea ta have _four_ difficulty settings?! Ah'm a medium pony! Ya know, since easy ain't exactly a challenge an' Ah don't have tha time of day ta get good enough fer hard!"

"Well why didn't you pick amateur? That was technically in the middle too," Button explained, reacting quickly enough to win a melee combat when an enemy tried to sneak up on him.

"Cause Ah thought it'd be too easy, an' Ah did remember ta put on mah big girl bow today! Ah didn't think it'd be this bad!" Applebloom continued to complain until she realised that Spike had revived her and she fumbled to get the controls again. "An' this story is so boring! And what kind of pony thinks increasing tha enemy health and making them do so much damage that tha armour our characters are wearing is about as useful as sticking tea cups ta their foreheads, means a better challenge! It's tha bare bones guide to difficulty changes!"

"Uh...You're the one who picked this game," Spike mentioned, picking up the game box when his character got stabbed in the back, showing it to have several Royal Guard charging into an army of Changelings, the title displaying 'Hive: Royal Guard' in a large, bold text.

"Cause Ah thought those reviews on tha box sounded good..." She was interupted by a giggle from beside her as her character stepped on a landmine and got blown up, and turned a heated glare at Sweetie Belle. "What?!"

"Oh you can't expect to enjoy a game because they have good quotes on the back! Heck, these days, game companies take quotes _way_ out of context!" Sweetie Belle explained as she and Button made it to the end of the level. "Like when it says here: 'It'll blow your mind...', with the ellipses, that means they've left something out of the sentence. It could say 'It'll blow your mind with how bad it is!' for all we know!"

"...Then why did Button buy it?!" Applebloom exclaimed, turning to face the brown colt. Button just shrugged.

"I have a section in the Foal Free Press for game reviews," He explained, motioning to the several games beside him. "I buy and play all these games and tell everyone in the piece a little about: the story, the gameplay, pros and cons. And then I give my opinion and a score at the end. It's to help save somepony from wasting their bits on a bad game since you can't get a full refund on opened games anymore."

"Yeah, it's one of our most popular sections," Featherweight continued, causing the group to look up at him. "Some adults even buy the paper just to see what Button thought of a recent game to see if it's worth their bits. Heck, sometimes game companies send him a review copy of their latest game so he can point out a few polishes they could make!"

"So that's why we were playing all those games at that convention!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, having gone with Button to Gamer-Con last month to try out demos like 'Mare Cry: Instinct' and 'Cataclysm 4'. "You said that was a date!" She continued, narrowing an inquisitive eye, causing Button to rub the back of his head sheepishly.

"It was! It just...Well...I can multi-task! You had fun!" Button quickly said, looking at his fillyfriend's face, before he turned to the pile. "Well, since Applebloom doesn't like this game and I've got more than enough for a review, how about a different game like..." He paused as he got out a board game by mistake. "Monopoly! Who wants to play Monopoly?!"

Featherweight sighed at the awkward colt's futile attempts to distract Sweetie Belle from...He wasn't sure what, and rolled his eyes. "Fine, but only if I can be the dog."

"Hey, I'm always the dog!" Spike complained, causing Featherweight to sigh again.

"Fine, I'll be the cart..."

"Hey Ah'm always tha cart!" Applebloom joined in, causing Featherweight to flinch back away from their heated stares.

"Fine, I'll be annoying pony!"

"Hey, I'm always the annoying pony!" Sweetie Belle suddenly interjected, unaware of what she said. Scootaloo sighed, smacking a hoof to her forehoof.

"And suddenly, I miss being round Featherweight's house."

"Hey, I'm always Featherweight's house!" Button complained, hugging the board game to his chest, protectively.

* * *

Meanwhile, Discord was mending the hole in the side of Fluttershy's cottage, placing the bricks in place with his hands rather than his magic because...

...Anyway! While he was doing so, his ear suddenly twitched and he turned towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Fluttershy, who was busy helping Tank get ready for his hibernation, turned to him quizzically. "What's wrong, Discord?"

He placed a paw to his chin in contemplation. "I'm not sure. I just feel like something...odd is going on."

"Odd?"

"Yes. Like there are references that nopony's going to get being thrown around...And they're not funny," He explained, clicking his talon and finishing the wall behind.

Fluttershy blinked at the wall, before turning a deadpan stare at Discord. "Why didn't you just do that in the first place?" Discord turned to the wall, which used to have a Discord shaped hole in it. It was odd since he was trying to teleport.

"Huh? There was a hole here," He muttered, looking over it with a puzzled expression. "It's gone now."

"Now who's making unfunny references!" Pinkie exclaimed as she raced past the two and into the cottage. The two blinked in confusion before Cheese appeared in front of them.

"Hey guys, you seen Pinkie round? She's winning twenty two to nineteen and I need to make some points back!" He explained, pulling a whoopee cushion out of his mane, as well as a lemon meringue pie, before stuffing the two together. "I figured I could get double points with this!"

Fluttershy glanced at her cottage, then at Cheese, then finally at Discord, who looked about as clueless as her, before sighing. "She ran into my cottage, probably under my dining room table..."

" _Traitor!"_ Pinkie screamed out, giving her position away as Cheese let the pie fly and it smacked into her face with the traditional fart noise, smearing pie on her face in the process.

"Double points!" Cheese cheered, before he noticed the look on his friend's face and decided to run as fast as he could in the other direction.

"Oh I'm going to get you for that!" Pinkie declared, racing after him, leaving a flummoxed Fluttershy and Discord behind them.

After a few minutes of silence, Discord slapped his talon over his face. "I think we need new friends," He muttered, Fluttershy just nodding in silent agreement.

* * *

Rarity smiled brightly as she secured one last pink band around Cadence's left fore hoof. "There you go dear, I made sure to pad your baby bump to keep the little one nice and warm."

"I love it Rarity, thank you for doing this on such short notice," Cadence replied, looking over the elegant, dark blue gown in the mirror before her. Rarity waved her comment off.

"It's not a problem Dear, I've had a little more free time since Discord helped me out. I was just on my way out to get my little sister's Hearts Warming present," She replied, watching as the Princess carefully removed the dress to lay it over her back, replacing it with her dark pink sweater.

"Do you mind if I join you? I need to get something for Shining, Spike, Twily and Flash," Cadence asked, grabbing grabbing her saddlebags and heading towards the door that Rarity held open for her.

"Of course you can, Cadenza, I'd love to catch up!" Rarity answered happily, already knowing where she had to go and what she had to get, so knew that Cadence couldn't distract her. "And buying a present for Flash, are we? Your certainly happy about Twilight's relationship."

Cadence gave the Unicorn a smug grin. "Who do you think set them up?" She asked, causing Rarity to giggle. "Twilight wouldn't ask him out since she didn't know much about his character, so I tricked her into going to dinner with him."

"That's when she started learning about who he is, yes she told me," Rarity finished, smiling fondly at the girl talk they had. It wasn't often that Rarity got to talk her friends about relationships, but when she did she absorbed every little detail she could, if only to help with her own situation...which seemed to do the trick.

"Yes, but enough about her! Tell me about this stallion that you're going with?" The Alicorn asked, causing Rarity to jump out of her thoughts. "Twilight was talking about how you and your friends all got dates to the dance and I just love talking about budding romances!" She clarified. Being the Princess of Love, it should come as no surprise that she would jump at the chance to hear about how her friends got with their stallions.

Rarity flushed a little but, at the same time, felt very giddy. She's never had the opportunity to boast about her own relationships before...namely because they hadn't really lasted more than a night.

"Well...His name is Thunderlane, a Wonderbolt reserve and weather pony for the town."

"Wow, a Wonderbolt! Good catch," Cadence teased causing Rarity to flush a little more.

"I guess, yes, but that's not what attracted me to him...though it certainly didn't hurt. No, he helped to save my life when my friends and I were thrown out of Twilight's balloon," Rarity explained, sighing with elation at the memory.

Cadence giggled a little, holding a hoof to her chest. "So a knight in shining armour, huh?" she asked.

Rarity smiled and nodding her head. "I guess you could say that, but what I mostly liked was after that, when we were talking. As it turns out, he had a little brother and it's just the way he cared for him. It was just...I don't know, so loving and almost fatherly."

Cadence blinked. "Fatherly? Does he not have one and Thunderlane felt like he had to fill the role?" Rarity shook her head.

"No, he does. He just works a lot and doesn't have a lot of time to spend with him...Well I guess you could say that he was filling in the role somewhat. It doesn't matter though. I just thought..."

"He'd make a great dad someday?" Cadence burst out laughing at the cherry faced, speechless pony next to her, waving her hoof dismissively. "I'm joking, Rarity, sorry. But the look on your face!"

Rarity sighed in relief, chuckling slightly at her playful nature. "Of course, no need to worry Dear. I can take a joke."

* * *

"Boy am I glad to get away from him for a while," Twilight mentioned as she and Flash made their way towards Sugarcube Corner, a check-list held under Flash's wing. He was also in his Royal Guard armour, which Shining insisted(ordered) that he wear to seem more professional.

She turned to her coltfriend, noticing a light sheen of frost start to form on the metal of his armour. "Are you sure you're not cold?" She asked, concerned. She, herself, wearing a large purple parka. He smiled back, teeth clattering slightly.

"Don't worry, Twily! W-we Royal Guard are tr-trained to be able t-to survive the harshest of w-weather," He explained, holding his head high, proudly, to try and impress her. This, however, resulted in him not being able to see an incoming patch of ice.

Inevitably he slipped on it and crashed to the floor on his side, rather painfully given the extra weight. _"AH!"_

"Oh my gosh!" Twilight exclaimed, immediately igniting her horn and tearing his armour off and moving him to his other side, noticing a large bruise start to form under his left wing.

He, too, noticed that and grimaced. "Ah that's going to make flying a pain in the flank!"

"Flash, what's the point in this armour if it doesn't actually protect anything?" Twilight asked, using a quick spell to float the wing guard over it.

"I don't know. We've never really had a proper war before, so it's mostly for show," He explained, easily able to make it back to his hooves, like any good soldier, but now even more vunerable to the cold.

The Princess ignored his response, looking over the piece before she found the problem. "This armour isn't insulated!" She said, pointing to the inside, which was also just metal. "You're supposed to wear chain-mail or, at the least, a woollen jumper to stop the metal just smacking into you!"

"...Huh?" Flash replied, using a violently shivering hoof to grab the piece of metal. "Y-you know, n-none thought o-of th-that...Might explain s-some o-of the i-injuries we've had."

Twilight sighed, taking a mental note to talk to Shining about this, and walked up to a tree, shoving her hoof into it, and extracting a blue parka and holding it out for him.

He blinked at her as he took, a questioning look on his face. "What?" She asked, turning to the tree he was pointing at. "Oh, Pinkie has parkas in trees all over Ponyville, for parka emergencies." She explained, as if it was as normal as the sun rising in the morning.

Flash just blinked a couple of times, before shrugging and putting it on, not really caring at this point. Then sighed in content as the warmth started to flow into his wings and such. "Better?" She asked.

"Better," He smiled, extending his wing out of one of the convenient holes in the coat to wrap around her barrel, stuffing the check-list in his pocket. "Thanks."

Twilight blushed, still not used to the intimate gestures, but nuzzled into his cheek all the same. "You're welcome."

* * *

ML54: As you can tell, Lunch time will be next, then the afternoon, then the evening and, if I'm feeling up to it, an epilogue! Please R&R! :D


	3. Afternoon of the Dance

ML54: *Pokes head out from under a rock* Ah! It feels good to get out from under there. So how long have I-

Rainbow: OVER A YEAR YOU DUMBASS!

ML54: *Eyes widen* Oh man! Uh...Disclaimer please?

Spike: Who?

ML54: ANYONE!

Anyone: ML54 doesn't own MLP.

 **Afternoon of the Dance**

"Hiya Rainbow Dash!" The cyan Pegasus blinked at her name and looked up to find the voice...

...only to end up with a grey Pegasus face-planting into her, causing the two to topple over into the snow.

Right now, Rainbow was on her way to Sugarcube Corner to meet up with Fluttershy for lunch. So she had made her way out through the dirt path of Sweet Apple Acres into town.

This is where she had run into her eccentric, mail-mare friend...quite literally. She sighed, but couldn't help but smile fondly at Ditzy, who was shaking her head of her dizziness, sprawled out across her. "Hey Derpy, how's it going?"

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-" Ditzy's words were suddenly cut off by Rainbow placing her hoof over her mouth.

"It's fine, girl, no harm done," Rainbow stated, ushering the pony off of her and standing up and shaking the snow off of her mane and winter gear. "So what's up?"

Ditzy blinked, then grinned, happily. "I finally got that date with Time Turner!" She answered jumping up in excitement, accidentally kicking the tree behind her, causing snow to fall over the pair of them. "...oops."

Rainbow laughed, once again shaking the snow off of herself. "That's great, Derpy, I'm happy for you. Just try not to tread on his hooves when your dancing, okay?"

"I said I was sorr-"

"I know Derps, I'm just messing with ya," Rainbow answered, motioning to town. "Hey, I was gonna get some lunch with Fluttershy, you want to come along?"

Ditzy grinned, bouncing up to Rainbow's side. "Sure!"

* * *

Rarity sighed in relief as the last dress for the dance was finished, and right on time.

She enveloped Sweetie Belle's dress for the night in her magic, going up to her room to deliver the gown personally. Everypony else had already picked up their clothes before she had gone out to buy Hearth's Warming presents with Cadence or after she had returned.

It was quite funny when she returned and there were, like, twenty ponies lined up outside of her shop looking anxious. But they had what they needed and that's all that mattered.

When she reached the room, she knocked a few times. But when she didn't receive a reply, she opened the door in concern, only to find Sweetie Belle passed out on her bed, snoring quietly.

She smiled fondly at her sister as she entered the room, hanging the garment on a coat hanger on the end of her bed.

She heard Sweetie Belle shudder and looked over to see her reaching out for something. She looked and saw that her blanket had been kicked off...or maybe she hadn't even put it over herself in the first place.

Rarity gave an exasperated sigh and a smile as she used her magic to cover her sister with her blanket, which the mini Unicorn started to snuggle into.

As she was leaving, she heard a little voice say. "Thanks sis."

Her smile widened a little as she closed the door, only to hear a small knock at her door.

Confused, she walked over and opened it up to find Pinkie there, covered in cake batter no less. She looked her dough covered friend in the eye and pointed to the hose to the side of her house.

Pinkie blinked, but grinned instead. "No need!" She said as her tongue extended out of her mouth, slithered across her entire body, gathering the cake batter, before retracting it back into her mouth and swallowing it all. "Ta da!"

Rarity blinked in surprise, before she smiled and moved to the side. "Hi Pinkie, pleasure to see you."

"Oh I was wondering when you were going to say something! You've been so quiet since the scene started!" Pinkie mentioned, off-handedly, before she jumped onto Rarity's drama couch and started to lounge on it a little. "Sorry to bother you, but I'm hiding from Cheese!"

"Oh! Have you had an argument?" Rarity asked in concern, as she went into the kitchen to get some drinks.

Pinkie waved off her comment. "Nah, but he got me with the old, bucket of cake batter on top of a slightly open door, gag and now he's only one point behind me and I refuse to lose this prank war! And since Fluttershy betrayed me, I thought I'd hide out with my good friend, Rarity, since Applejack had ponies over and Rainbow and Twilight weren't home!"

Rarity chose, wisely, to ignore the fact that Pinkie had basically told her that she was the last resort, and set two cups of tea down, as well as a plate of cookies...

...she knew they wouldn't last long, but hey.

Almost predictably, Pinkie's mouth soon did it's best vacuum cleaner impression and sucked the whole plate clean, almost as if she hadn't just eaten her own weight in cake batter just a minute ago.

Rarity shook her head and took a sip of her tea, hoping that she could get some form of conversation, at least.

* * *

Soarin flew around town, trying to find Big Mac, who had said that he was going to meet up with Caramel, Thunderlane and Time Turner for lunch at Hay-Burger King, and said that if Soarin wanted to eat with them, he could meet them there.

...All entirely in mime too!

Soarin had grinned at the little display that the big, red horse put on. It was fairly funny, especially his mime of eating, which looked more like he were some sort of hamster, and his mimic of Thunderlane was just pushing his own mane into a mohawk.

He glanced down and noticed Caramel waving to him from the side of the street, Doctor Time Turner stood next to him, fiddling with some kind of metal, cylindrical thing that had a glowing blue light coming from the tip of it.

He waved back and landed in front of them, folding his wings in behind him, holding out his hoof for a hoof-bump. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"It's going great, good to see you again, dude!" Caramel replied, returning the hoof-bump. He then nudged Time Turner, who jumped and quickly put his metal thing behind his ear.

"How do you do, Soarin. Sorry about that, my sonic device is just on the fritz again," The brown stallion replied, sheepishly.

The Pegasus didn't really know what a sonic device was, but knocked the Trottish pony on the shoulder, regardless. "I'm doing great, but I'll be doing better with some food in me, so let's get in there before I freeze my tail off," He said, motioning towards the Hay-Burger King behind them.

Once they got in, they ordered their food and sat down with Mac and Thunderlane, where Thunderlane was having a fairly one-sided conversation about the latest hoof-ball game, Mac just nodding every now and then.

"Hey guys," Soarin said, before grabbing a couple of fries and stuffing them in his face. The two paused their conversation enough to greet him in return.

* * *

"Hey Twi, Flash! Over here!" Rainbow announced from the table she, Fluttershy and Ditzy were sitting, once she noticed the pair walk into Sugarcube Corner. Twilight noticed them and nudged Flash towards the table.

"Hey girls, how are you doing?" Twilight asked, Flash busying himself by nodding to the group and going to order his and Twilight's food.

"We're doing great!" Ditzy replied, happily nibbling her muffin. Fluttershy nodded in agreement, having finished her blueberry pie earlier.

"No doubt," Rainbow also answered, taking a drink of her vanilla milkshake. "How about you? You having fun with Flash?"

Twilight sighed. "I'd be having a little more fun if Shining wasn't constantly breathing down his neck. He got hurt earlier because Shining forced him to wear his metal armour outside!"

"Aw, I'm sure he's just being over-protective," Fluttershy giggled, causing Twilight to raise an eyebrow. "Zephyr used to be like that with me _all_ the time! Especially when he thought Rainbow and I were dating!"

Rainbow grumbled with a blush, having just remembered that little fact. "Yeah, that was an interestingly awkward day that I thought we were never going to bring up ever again. _Ever_."

Fluttershy winced and gave the cyan Pegasus an apologetic grin before Twilight got her attention. "So you know how to get big brother's off your back?"

"Zephyr only backed off when I had to beat it into his skull that we weren't dating," Rainbow answered for Fluttershy, noticing Flash take a seat, setting a daisy sandwich, a slice of pecan pie and a strawberry milkshake in front of his mare-friend while he settled for a bowl of honeyed oats and a glass of apple juice.

When he noticed the odd looks that Twilight's friends were giving him, he rose his eyebrow. "Um...hi?"

"Really? Out of everything here, you went for honeyed oats?" Rainbow inquired, to which Flash shrugged.

"During boot camp, we got these every morning and, well, I got kinda hooked on them," He answered, taking a spoonful and putting them in his mouth.

"...Eh, okay, whatever floats your boat!" Ditzy finally answered, turning to Twilight. "And have you thought about asking Applejack? She has a big brother and she's been dating Soarin for quite some time."

"Nah, Mac knows that AJ can handle herself, so never really minded Soarin, especially since he helps during apple-buck and cinder season. He said he sees the guy like a brother," Rainbow answered, having learned all of this, first hand, from Mac himself. Plus, seeing the two interacting last night, playing cards and laughing, she knew Mac and Soarin got along like a house on fire.

Twilight sighed, turning to share a look with Flash, who put a hoof on her shoulder and rubbed it to try and soothe her. "Well...That sucks."

"Relax Twi, Shining will go easier on Flash soon, don't you worry about that!" Rainbow said, confidently. "And if he doesn't, I'm sure Cadence will give him a piece of her mind!"

Twilight let out a small smile, remembering all the times that her sister-in-law had helped the two of them out when Shining was giving them a hard time. "Yeah...I guess you're right."

"On a slightly lighter note," Ditzy said, hoping to change the subject, as well as to let Fluttershy know about her date's good deeds. "I just got to the part where Discord fell into a box of broken glass!"

* * *

After a few minutes of eating and talking amongst themselves, Mac noticed Soarin look up at him every now then, looking a little nervous. So, after finishing off his apple, he nudged Soarin in the shoulder and tilted his head towards the door.

Soarin took a deep breath and nodded, suddenly feeling a little more jittery than before. "Hey guys, I need to talk to Big Red for a bit. Be back in a minute," He told the group, not even waiting for a reply before he moved to the exit.

The other three gave Mac a confused look, which he just shrugged at as he followed the Pegasus out of the door.

"What do you think that was about?" Time Turner asked, once again fiddling with his pen-like device.

"Not sure," Caramel replied, taking a sip of his drink. "Though I hope it's not anything serious."

"I'm sure it's fine," Thunderlane said, firmly, before changing the subject. "So do you guys have a date for the dance?"

* * *

Mac tilted his head as Soarin suddenly lost all of his composure and started fumbling around in his saddlebags, looking for something.

Soarin noticed this and just waved off his concern. "I'm fine, just l-looking for it, no big deal. Ah ha!" He declared, taking out a gold earring with a green emerald in a small, golden apple held in a small, velvet box, and placed it on the ground in front of him.

Mac blinked as Soarin showed him the thing, proudly and expectantly, before his eyelids lowered in a sarcastic expression. "Oh, Soarin this is so sudden," He said, sardonically, holding a hoof to his own chest.

Soarin quickly punched Mac in the shoulder, half-heartedly, before flinching and holding his hoof in his other one. "Ahh, jeez! What are you made of?!" Soarin complained, rotating his fore-hoof to try and soothe it a little.

Mac shook his head and tilted it. Soarin noticed and grinned, nervously. "Right, that. Well...I was maybe...Kinda hoping to ask your sister to...well, marry me. And...well...was kinda hoping for your blessing?"

"Soarin, we ain't livin' in tha dark ages. If ya want ta marry mah sister, ya gotta ask her, not me," Mac said, knowing that his usual 'eeyups' and 'nopes' weren't exactly suitable for this conversation.

"I know, I know. I just thought-"

"I get it, Soarin," Mac assured him, placing a hoof to the other stallion's shoulder before the Pegasus got too flustered. "An' Ah'm grateful that yer respectful enough ta feel tha need ta get mah blessing. But Ah'll tell ya right now, if ya did need it, ya most certainly have it."

Soarin blinked, and tilted his head at the bigger stallion. "Really, why? I suck at farm work, I rarely have time to come down from Cloudsdale, I'm loud and I-"

"Make AJ happy," Mac, once again, interrupted, giving Soarin a reassuring smile. "If Ah needed a farm-hand, Ah'd hire a farm-hand. You can't help needin' ta work where ya do and if you think you're loud, you should try hanging out with Pinkie sometime."

Soarin blinked, still in his surprised stupor as Mac placed a large hoof on his shoulder. "What Ah wanted was somepony who loves AJ, faults an' all, and makes her smile. An', as far as Ah see it, yer that somepony. So go fer it, an' Ah'll be glad ta call ya mah brother."

Mac turned to leave Soarin alone with his thoughts for a little, the blue stallion's smile growing inch by inch, until Mac popped his head round the corner.

"Oh, Ah suppose Ah should warn ya about keepin' her happy or Ah'll rip yer wings off an' jam 'em down yer throat, but ya probably already knew Ah'd say something like that," Soarin blinked at the surprisingly violent choice of words, before Mac grinned and left for real this time.

"...I think Rainbow might be a bad influence on him."

* * *

"Ah swear ta gosh, Applebloom, why did ya think stayin' up all night was a good idea?" Applejack asked, shovelling some slop to the pigs, who started to slurp up the mix, hungrily.

"Huh?" Applebloom asked, dazed, throwing some feed to the chickens...or what she thought was feed. Instead, the chickens started to hungrily peck at her apple fritter that she had been eating.

Applejack sighed and looked over, only to cringe as her sister took a hoof-full of seeds and shoved them into her mouth, before spitting them out in disgust.

"Eww, Applejack what did you put in tha fritters?!"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Apparently a bunch o' bird seeds."

"Why would ya do that?!" Applebloom asked, rubbing her tongue.

"What?! That was sarcasm, Applebloom!"

"I dunno what this sarcasm is, but it tastes awful!" She said, throwing some actual bird seeds to the chickens, who seemed a little less peckish than before.

Applejack blinked, before her hoof found her face rather suddenly. "Oh fer tha love of-We've talked about this, Applebloom! Sarcasm isn't a food!"

"Well clearly, who'd want ta eat somethin' like that, right Spike?" Applebloom asked, turning to find the little dragon curled up and asleep with Winona, the Apple family's dog, lying across his chest. _"Spike!"_

"I'm awake!" He exclaimed, jumping up to his feet, launching the dog into the air, briefly, before she landed on Applejack's back. Winona blinked, bleary-eyed for a second, before curling up to sleep on her new source of warmth. "What's happening?"

"Uh, never-mind," Applejack sighed, turning to find the pigs looking up at her, expectantly. "How can ya still be hungry, Ah just gave ya a full trough!" She exclaimed, moving to give the pigs a little more.

Spike looked around, before Applebloom walked up to him and tilted her head. "Want me ta walk ya back ta tha castle? Ya look sleepy," She asked, concern dripping for her eyes, even through the bags hanging under them.

"What, nah I'm fi-*yawn* fine!" He said, before his legs gave out and he landed on his backside. Applebloom rolled her eyes, stepping forward to help him up, before her own legs gave out and she face-planted the ground next to him.

Spike blinked and pushed her onto her side, concerned, only to find her fast asleep.

He grinned at her hypocrisy, ready to tease her about this later. Though seeing her sleeping started to make his own eye-lids feel heavy.

"Alright ya pair of ninnies, now we need ta-" Applejack started, before she turned and found the dragon and pony passed out on the ground.

She sighed and picked the pair of them up, motioning for Winona to get down for the moment. The dog let out a whine, but did as she was told and started to trudge back to the farmhouse, hoping to get to her dog-bed before she falls asleep in the snow, rather than next to the warm scale-y one or on top of the furry one.

Applejack deposited the two of them on her back and moved into the house, noticing Featherweight and Scootaloo sitting on the porch swing. "How are you not tired?" She asked, noticing his date asleep on his shoulder.

He shrugged and moved down in time to catch the orange filly, who was in danger of falling onto the ground. "My doctor said I have insomnia or something, I don't know. I stopped paying attention at that point."

Applejack nodded and went inside, deciding to let Spike sleep on the couch, before noticing Babs and Rumble watching TV. "Hey you two, ya got any room fer Spike on there?"

"We would-" Babs started, before motioning to Winona who was curled up and asleep next to them. "-but ya dog called dibs and Rumble don't want ta move her."

She looked up at the colt, who was stroking the dog and smiling like it was already Heart's Warming. "Ah see..."

"Sorry cuz, but Rumble lights up like a kid with a present when it comes ta dogs an' Ah don't wanna ruin his fun. Besides, he's cute when he's like this," Babs continued, smiling warmly at the colt, who started to scratch the dog behind her ears.

"That's alright, Ah still got a guest roo-"

"Button's using that," Rumble announced, suddenly, causing her to look up at him. "Applebloom offered when he said that his brother wouldn't be picking him up until three and he didn't want to get in trouble with his mom again."

"Alright, fine," Applejack replied, grumpily, trotting out of the room towards the stairs. "They'll just have to share her room then."

Once she got into Applebloom's room, knocking her head against some model spaceship the yellow filly had hanging on the ceiling, she promptly dumped the two on top of the covers, grabbing one of the pillows and placing it at the foot of the bed, laying Spike down that way, while laying her sister the other way, separating them enough so they had their space and left, knocking her head against the same spaceship.

She sighed as she closed the door, cursing her sister's love of space, and found Featherweight and Scootaloo, who looked to be somewhat awake now, standing there. "Um, Miss Applejack, can Scootaloo sleep in your room for a bit? She said she was getting cold outside."

The orange Earth Pony blinked, looking back at Applebloom's room, then towards her own, empty room and even to Big Mac's equally empty room, before cursing her own stupidity and sighed, motioning over to her door. "Sure kid, knock yerself out."

* * *

ML54: So uh...Yeah, sorry about the long wait-

Soarin: Really, no-one should be surprised anymore, you aren't very reliable, you know?

ML54: *Flinches* Yeah, sorry about that. So uh...Hope you guys enjoy! All of, maybe, 10 of you guys!


End file.
